FERTILE EARTH

I. In the corner of the garden we found the perfect spot for the damask rose "Celsiana," but when we dug, we hit a boulder. I said, "Let's plant somewhere else." "No," she disagreed, "we'll... Read More

Attendance Check

Swapping cigarettes, jabs, chips, they drift like Rockaway waves from the boys home into the classroom, ninth graders no one would bet on, discarded by split parents. The deck of misfortune they inherited keeps shoving... Read More

Against Optimism

It’s a lonely fight, no more so than when the broken rhododendron--an ancient spidery thing just off the back porch-- flares for two fiery weeks each May, so scarlet and profuse, so labial, well, it... Read More

Paradiso

Paradiso No blue grocery bags rustle from the lindens lining the freshly paved avenues. No women stop before windows to stare at mannequins blank as angels. A dog barks from a rose garden. Motor scooters... Read More

Of Crows

The beauty of crows should not be forgotten. When colored bullets race down the road's black veins, Their short, broad wings deliver them skyward. A crow's tastes are unsentimental, a testament To the infinite hunger... Read More