Travel Advisory One December, when I was 17, I drove through a blizzard because my girlfriend had beckoned me. I was snow-blind & low on gas & probably would've frozen to death had I slid off the road. I wondered if there was a Saint of Lost Indians then screamed with joy when I pulled up behind a gorgeous snow plow. I followed that bright rig into the next town, parked & then walked into a bar where a drunk dude asked, "Kid, are you dumb or are you in love?"
Counterpoint
I'm asked how I can write
about jubilation in a time
of war. I say that the brutes
always want to slaughter
our joy. There's nothing more
that the executioner hates
than a doomed bird who
still sings to greet the sun.
Family Song
On the coldest reservation
days, we saw rows
of icicles hanging from
the edges of our goverment-
built home. My siblings
and I, wearing old socks
for gloves, would break
those icy spikes from
the eaves, launch them
through the air,
and pretend that we were
winter warriors
defending our tribe
from all our enemies.
Hey, you gotta be strong
to survive poverty.
Generation
Our farthest descendants will
only know us by our photos.
Don't worry. Those farthest
descendants will also become
only photos to their farthest
descendants. This is how it goes.
For all of us, there comes a day
when there's nobody left alive
who remembers who we were.
2023
This was
the year when
too many
of my friends
were the first
to proclaim
that blood
and water
quench
the same thirst.
Nocturne
At night, we sprint
from streetlight
to streetlight
until we are
exhausted. Then,
beneath the last
streetlight, we
shimmer
as we kiss.
This is how
we defend
ourselves
against all
the darkness.
Interior Life
The only way
that I'll die
in the wilderness
is if
my plane crashes
in the wilderness.
Hunger As a child, I sometimes hid food. When you were a child did you hide food, too?
My Janus, My January
The bedroom window is open
and cold wind turns
the curtains into tides.
I toss aside the blankets
to escape my bed's furnace.
Then I breathe, breathe
through the freeze. Sometimes,
it's good to shiver on purpose.
Love Song
undress caress tenderness
incandescent bioluminescence
bless O bless O bless O bless
Did I hide food as a child? No because what was set in front of us was all there was to eat. Thanks for the great images.
I had to hide food. Lol. My sister and I fought like savages over groceries on the once a month when my mother would shop.
I love this line:
“There's nothing more
that the executioner hates
than a doomed bird who
still sings to greet the sun.”