Category: Writing

  • Worthy

    This day is worthy of my attention.
    I am worthy of life.

    What I fear and desire is worthy of attention.
    Attention — not indulgence, fixation, or avoidance.
    Attention — soft, expansive, communicating worth.
    Everything I fear and desire is worthy of respect.
    These teach me what I am.

    Whatever work is at hand is worthy of my effort
    because it is here, it is mine, because I choose it.
    I am worthy of rest, ease, and pleasure as well.
    The goals I desire are worthy of commitment.
    Commitment is worth the cost of effort and discipline.
    Worth is integrity.

    What I want to give is worthy of being given.
    I am worthy of receiving what is offered.
    I am worthy of saying yes to what helps me become whole.
    I am worthy of saying no to what would diminish me.
    What I have lost is worthy of grief.
    What I have is worthy of gratitude.
    What I wish to say is worthy of being heard.
    What you wish to say is worthy of being heard.

    I am worthy of life.
    This day is worth my attention.

  • Ode to the Lonely Heart

    Ode to the Lonely Heart

    Sole occupant
    of concavity:
    stalactite core
    weeping red sap.

    Circular beats
    crack the silence
    with “not enough,
    I’m not enough.”

    Rivulets seek
    reunion,
    slicing a home
    through hostility.

    Granitic walls
    bear witness to
    the suffering
    of no body.

    Flinching eye, turn
    to this abyss
    and fold your arms
    around despair.

  • Nonsense

    Looking through old files of poetry drafts, I came upon this piece. I do not recall writing it, but the filename was “nonsense.pages.” I have decided it is an homage to Lewis Carroll.

    The unctious frighteners do plume
    about the myriad and splintered bloom.
    From bifurcated orange drunken marrow
    emerges the grey unheeded sparrow.
    At hated, obsolescent failures bleak
    the gruesome phantom dares not blink
    lest rend you his undines by claw and dog
    then post results to malicious blogs.
    Unharrowed soil hearkens to the nail
    the respite of gods bled to compost and fail
    a garden she grew merely of weed and mint
    her hair unbroken and mended in splint.
    We should all so luckily skin divest
    and heart so vibrantly under, blessed.
    Antlered stags the moonlight drink and think
    of homes unmade for turgid, irksome mink.
    Here lies the secret of ancient black wrens
    cavorting orgiastic beaks in glens:
    “A victory from darkness must be wrought!”
    The pointless battle once more to be fought.

  • The New Lexicon

    Tolendaiser
    The state of hesitation
    when a gift from one’s parent
    requires gratitude
    but inspires a sense
    of abandonment,
    of not being seen;
    a childhood wound.

    Marchibarolan
    The distance between
    two lovers in bed
    while attempting to sleep.

    Xiltatation
    A sense of urgency
    after the realization
    of a scheduling error,
    when one must rush
    from a styling appointment
    to the funeral of a loved one.

    Padronomonisg
    A person who avows
    materialist atheism
    yet consults the horoscope
    with surreptitious fervor.

    Linagronaztic
    Unfurling the bedsheets to discover
    a long-lost sock, the mate of which
    has been since cast into the garbage,
    or made into a dust rag.

    Hudriplomisml
    The startling revelation
    that one’s ancestors
    were of an unexpected race,
    and the onset of clarity
    of long-held confusions.

    Riquewrinaldol
    A quality of revulsion,
    with inexplicable spite.

    Makwuentheka
    An archaic magical practice,
    in which the remains of old computers
    are cast to divine the contents
    of desiccated hard drives.

    Sistelnakroth
    A persistent, unwelcome spirit
    who invites itself to parties,
    weddings, births, and offers
    inarticulate predictions of catastrophe
    for persons unknown.

    Warmuzlenaig
    The name for a wild animal,
    tamed to become a household pet,
    who dreams of shredding
    the throats of its owners.

    Zoplexionaklip
    The shock of recognizing
    that one has sent
    incriminating text messages
    to the worst possible recipient.

    Flizakorflam
    A toxic play substance
    given to children
    who irritate their parents.

    Aericothanko
    A sexual position
    wherein two or more lovers
    contemplate orgasm
    while separated by a body
    of water, such as the ocean.

    Cthaxorphilae
    The love of, or affection for,
    pseudoscientific claims
    posited with inassailable authority
    by those puporting to be
    religious filmmakers.

  • Mandragora

    Graduate school has taken up much of the energy I might spend writing or updating this blog, so entries are likely to be few and far between. However! I do want to update, as Scarlet Imprint has announced the opportunity to pre-order its upcoming anthology of poetry, Mandragora, which features some of my work! I am quite excited and honored to be a part of this project, and among so many other accomplished writers.