The Redacted

and the sound
Of running feet from every side was heard
Bent on the

THE END
- Jonathan Swift Somers in The Spooniad


Nurse's Epilogue

This world is held together
by dogs and gardens,
ladders and bells,
really tight shoestrings.
As her kidneys fail
her tears drain light
from her woebegone eyes.
All the way to Tombstone today,
should I take my gun?
You have to laugh sometimes.
At three in the morning
I wonder about her potassium,
feel sad about the way
she looked at me before
I knew that she was sick.
I'll never forget that darkness
because I thought that it was mine.
She stood in the first row
at the end, left to right.
We were all such pretty girls.

A penny for your thoughts

it is only a description
of things past
the entire day spent
in suspicion, hard on
with doubt
knowing but not knowing
in the cloud of envy
a pin drops

she lives alone
and watches QVC
all night long

she breaks
in her car
with a best-seller at lunch

I keep on working
through and stop
twice to smoke

Snowman, come here.