Purple Smoke Tree, Frostwriting, Issue 8, 2012
The Custodian, Canyon Voices, Issue 2, 2010


Vitals

So thin as to shatter
my father walked

our street block
mechanically-

every bone-
bulged joint

revealed in its
pivotal work.

On jacketless,
stark days

he alarmed
the trails of eyes

placing him moments
from a toppling death,

not at the corner
store for more.

He's a living skeleton,
they'd warn my mother.

No, she'd casually reply,
He's a pension check.


Obsidian III, Vo. 11, Issue 1, Summer 2010