THREE DEATHS
Just the memory
After opening this book
By a poet long dead
Of the reading a decade ago
Where another poet
Now dead
Said of a third
Now dead
That the work
Was as good
As anything here
GRAMMATICAL TRIPTYCH
One Sentence About Two Things
What I admire in her writing
I loathe in her photography
Emotional depth
Rendered via the deceptive ease
Of a vernacular
Unyieldingly authentic
Which is to say
Something complex
In the simplest terms
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Two Sentences About One Thing
Admiration presupposes vanity
You can’t explain a window to a mirror
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A Final Thought on Legality
Even when taking the form of a question
The sentence is the aftermath of judgement
And justifies its authority by pressing against
Its own boundaries in order not to demonstrate
Their existence but to legitimize yours
In this way, adjudication becomes a literary act
MACROAGGRESSION
As if gallantry and woe
Were together a carnival
In which each ride
Left one dizzy not
With the lingering sheen
Of pleasure but something
Approaching its expectation
Retreating always at
The final moment into
Reluctant acceptance
As one does upon learning
That yes there always was
A door right here and no
You’ll never be encumbered
By the realization of what
Is behind it