-- Neil Covey The clouds are out--no moon, no Venus, But we do not need a moonless night To tell us of the dark between us. This is not a truth requiring sight. For here, for us, sight will not suffice; It can't tell cold, nor can smell reveal The danger of black, deceptive ice, And touch falls short; it doesn't feel The one thing that is most palpable-- A thing we can only almost taste, So silent ears aren't capable To catch--this all too perfect sense of waste. Watch over us as we take our chances, Who try to... Continue reading

I stood by you when you were circumcised. The doctor joked man always fantasized about one hand on his penis and another stroking his head. I doubt any brother has ever yearned for how that dream passed for you that day, a urologist down below and your father up above while a nurse made sure you couldn’t move: your head strapped down, your arms and legs held back in a kind of miniature torture rack. Your cries, though small, were strong, echoing, reaching back to memory, where they remain. He did use novocaine: a ring of blood pricks (and that’s... Continue reading

A Whiff of Something I caught a whiff of something this morning I don’t even know . . . riding in back of a pickup loving the wind dead men talking up front about senators cotton fields surrounding us in high, Arkansas, summer we turned down to the ferry at Bartholomew Bayou it aint there no more there’s a bridge the water was slow and green trees huddled over us buzz of high heat enfolding us I must have caught a whiff of something then looking at the skeleton in Mammoth Cave leg broke and waiting for what was bound to come they turned the lights out and everything was dark Stop Breathe we are evolved perfectly blind fish in a cave belonging exactly where we are Continue reading