In America
we don’t know how
to take out the trash
The mess piling up
around us
a national rash
Our country deeply
infested
with rats and ptomaine
And from Eden
to a landfill
— our legacy chained
(The New Room: January, 2024)
The Hopeless Case
A mother
left crying
alone in her pew
Begging the Lord
for a miracle
new …
The only thing
he was good at
was being bad
Bus stations
train stations
corn maidens in drag
He came and he went
with the most
discordant rhyme
His sins
left uncounted
but marking the time
In Akron Ohio
his grifting
unwrapped
Those roads
in New Mexico
calling him back
The lights
and the sirens
again on their way
His thumb
in the wind
— Saint Jude in dismay
(The Breezeway: January, 2024)