Attracting Flies (+1)

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)