Poetry

Better takeout was thriving in DeKalb County,but the school system hadn’t caught up,its languages unable to support the Greek bakery,dim-sum parlors, or lox-and-bagel shops.We knew the Roman Empire went beyond Italyand Pizza Hut was not quite Italian,but we had to distinguish Latin partiesfrom the French, Spanish, and German.Latin drew the kids who would opt for …

We tie our sisters’ red ribbons around our heads and wear the garlands of the spent cartridges as ammo. On our shoulders, we carry the rhododendron branches as rifles fitted with letter openers for bayonets. Some bring rotten potatoes to hurl as hand grenades. Because the forest is booby-trapped, we play at school. All the …

The world encouraged me to completemy doctorate in shamelessness. “You’ll hurtto not be part of all this interfaceand commerce,” I was warned, thoughas soon as I declined I was rewardedwith a loneliness so pure that my earscould not be found by bothersome words,and my blood felt fed only by the airand the light that lives …

Anyone who makes tasty food has to be a good person, because think of all the love that goes into cooking:salt and pepper, sprinkle a little extra cheese, and pop open a bottle of Syrah, or if we’re eating at my parents’ in Las Vegas,we’re drinking Tsingtao beer, my father’s favorite, and he adds more …

At a bar, a man says Love the hair, says it’sthe best hair, baby. I’m Republican but would totally go liberal for you.At a gas station, a man’s Damn girl, those titsknocks me into the pump and I, too, canbe machine. Shudder. Waiting for use. Tick. Queue.*When I was young, in our basement, where Africahung …

—yes;some of us believed his speech could quell the sea just by reaching out palms-out, guiding tides, a la Moses the Mad. And as if His hands held up to the water, then, were like magnets repelling other, like magnets, He conquered the storm with magic, others of us said, if looked at more closely, …

Nights those Jesus bugs skimmed creek’s surfacemy bare feet glimmering like risen again I’d snuckpast date palms & horse corrals graveyardtrilling beyond highway & the boys & their shiningbodies I’d brought my own carried itwith me only newer stickysummer air & white flies circling streetlampswhat bliss was mine those moments beforeglistening rocks before shivering water …