it begins

insidiously

like the one time

you called me

by

her first name

*

after leaving home

for the first time

in two weeks

I breathe in

the rain-soaked air

like a fragrant rose

*

noiseless

the moon and stars

birth life

this is

why I am still awake

at 2 a.m.

*

after mother died

I purchased binoculars

to view the night

as if she were hidden

between

Orion and Sirius

*Published in leave me here (the cherita book 42)

*The last cherita was designated as a cherita lighthouse (editor’s choice)

 in the belly

of a crypt

snake’s hiss

*Published by horror senryu journal on 11/30/20

 happiness, pint by pint

this morning

i treated myself

to gourmet cookies & cream

held the pint in my

warm hand

before heading off to work

slowly i dipped my spoon

around the edges as they

began to melt

took my sweet

sweet time

to fully savor each bite

there’s a bag of granola

sitting undisturbed

in my dusty kitchen

and the vegan yogurt

i bought

with the best of intentions

is now a day past due

but neither

of those saintly things

can lift my spirits

in the way

that a bit of ice cream

can do

*Published by Tealight Press on 11/28/20

 long ago

a deserted forest

became my first lover

what other rooms

could you find within

your darkest abode

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 11/27/20

 crescendo

we have been dry | the grass and i | wanting | begging | thunder

to soak up | our veins | this is why | when you came | with your

electric whip | on the horizon | a torch at twilight | neon pink

blue | caramel over clouds | i sat in silence | breathed | in

to watch you | a storm | crescendo | roll in roll in | over me

*Published in Issue 3 of The Confessionalist

 down down the musical rabbit hole

so i started listening

to early 90s Japanese ambient

which led me to

V A P O R W A V E

&

A E S T H E T I C S

then figured i could finally

try the screeching abyss

of harsh noise

& f*ck

there are genres

called lowercase

ocean grunge

& witch house

but sometimes i just

need to kick it old-school with

so tell me what you want

what you really really want

*Published by Skyway Journal on 11/23/20

 are rubies

simply fragments

of forgotten dreams

it is possible

that we once lived

as the dust between sand

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 11/21/20

 ancestral wasteland

to name is to     in some sense

own     how strange then

you named me

without knowing     who i am

down to bones     tonight

i will set fire

to the dank leather cuffs     it’s time

you called me by     what

i really am

that molecule of sweat     freed

from the shame     your mother’s mother

forced into you

that hymn     caught in your throat

by the silence     your father’s father

impelled into you

i am an ocean     you’ll never taste

or a wildflower     you’ll never smell

i

am

free

*Published by Fever Dream on 11/18/20

 hoot of an owl

mist pushes through

the electric fence

*Published by horror senryu journal on 11/18/20

 a bit of glass on my tongue crawling through weeds

*

claiming the subjunctive in the path of life’s fist

*Published in Bones 21

 matriarch

this night will

be my salvation

red moon

the blade is

heavy and cold

red hymn

and she waits

for a sacrifice

red flame

my body returned

to the earth

*Published by Dream Journal on 11/11/20

 chainsaw massacre

welcome to

US politics

*

a vulture to carrion late-stage capitalism

*Published in Suspect Device Zine (Turning Japanese #3)

 at dawn my body still a scepter

*Published by horror senryu journal on 11/6/20

luddite playlist

courtesy of YouTube

i have now heard what a dial-up modem sounds like

when slowed down 700%

haunted houses

y’all gotta take note of that shit

these days

the golden rule is followers > following

and i low-key

hate myself for caring

yet that still doesn’t stop me

from checking my phone

8,437 times each minute

damn

i still remember listening

to the radio in ‘97

mixtape at the ready

waiting waiting

to press record at the exact moment

NIN’s Closer began

*Published by The Daily Drunk on 11/4/20

 dancing

around infinity

I grasp

the heart

of the universe

still beating

*

winter’s end

I cannot wait

to tell

the first flower

I see

she was missed

*

without signs

warning

do not touch

my fingerprints

would sully

each Pollock

*

my favorite days

are the ones

where I cannot tell

if I am

still dreaming

between claps of thunder

*

drops of freezing rain

stick to my hair

admittedly

I did not realize

what fun it is

to play ice queen

*Published in i heard it first (the cherita book 41)

**The second cherita was designated as a cherita lighthouse (editor’s choice)

Tori Amos is my fairy godmother

it started with your hair

that unrepentant mess

of fiery curls, and the way

you gyrated your hips in

that Crucify video, Tori

you haven’t aged a day since

some pick guitars, but you

picked 88 keys to tame

and when no one else

could understand my wild

teenage heart, somehow

i knew you would

*Published in Periwinkle Literary Magazine Issue #2 (Wonderland)

 cyanide twilight

in dreams i am

the hunted

*Published by Haikuniverse (www.haikuniverse.com) on 10/31/20

 before death

did we gnash our teeth

in despair

a bluebird needn’t ask

if the air

will lift her feathers

*Published by Human/Kind Journal on 10/28/20

Note: This is the debut of the poetic form, Socratic verse, which I created. If you are interested in writing your own, here is the blueprint: At the heart of Socratic verse is a desire to explore the unknown, both internally and externally, through lyrical and surreal dialogue. Each part consists of 1 - 5 lines. 

distant bonfire

a bit of hickory climbs

through my window

*Published in the October 2020 issue of Stardust Haiku 

 lockdown...

but you never said

i couldn’t

travel the world

within my mind

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 10/27/20

 it begins

with a howl

blood moon

*Published by horror senryu journal on 10/26/20

 sometimes

the only thing

i know to be true

is that the sun has risen

somewhere

brightly in our sky

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 10/23/20

 a deeper

ache in my bones

full COVID moon

*Published by Haiku in Action on 10/22/20

this piece of amethyst

i hold in my hand

what secrets

have you kept

during your long life

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 10/18/20

 at night, watching the mist rise

as fate would have it

i looked out my window

at just the right time

to watch a thick mist rise up

from a darkened lake

now had this event stopped there

i would have been content

but nature

has never been withholding

of her beauty

the mist continued rising

above the treetops

and then turned left to brush

her white silk against

the roofs of impending homes

but where she went from there

i will never know

because nature

has never been withholding

of her mystery

*Published by Central Coast Poetry Shows on 10/12/20