zinc words & images

  • Interim

    I can see my fingers glowing With that particularly human Tone, when each tiny wrinkle and pore Captures the midday sun like the Undulating current of an Ohio Valley Wheatfield. Gold beneath blue Beneath yellow beneath red Beneath silver. A Renaissance Puzzle to be solved only Through that perfect mix of Oil, turpentine, and crushed…

  • Invention

    People are capable. Marigolds become brittle. What was worn is new. Fire escapes rain down Particles of soil seeping through the drainage Holes of a city garden. It is in the rust That change comes And in the taut drum Sound. Golden polish buffed With an old t-shirt And ignored by children Looking at clouds.…

  • Filigree

    My heart wants a thing It cannot name. Spreading Among rose bushes and Pushing toward sandstone walls, In a way it is directionless, Yet knows where it goes. Beyond Desire, to be taught by the sky’s Pigment and nurtured by salt Scraped from the ocean’s body. I cannot envision the place it Will come to…

  • The Young Architect

    In the fall, we would make a house and take turns being the mother. There were no walls, only an architect’s plan made of crisp, crepe leaves. Rake. Neat lines. Making sure to leave openings for the door.

  • April 13

    The shop was open and I stood in line waiting for my turn to be brave, to eat. First, darkly oiled vegetables and fifty years of history. Then, brining my palate in your cousin’s specious crumbs. Now, glycerin-lipped, consuming stolen spice and the arms of your queen. I return to you. Soft smell over still…