Roanoke, Virginia—Winter 1996
 
The Muse has flown
somewhere south, somewhere warm,
is lying perhaps on a beach in Jamaica,
sipping iced tea to the sound of the surf.
She’s left me here shivering
with March at my back, thinking of all
the ideas that I lack, left me alone,
pen poised above paper, at a loss
for words at my square green table,
my coffee [...]

 
Roanoke, Virginia—Winter 1996
 
We called it the “shock treatment”—
the way we flung our bodies
through the thick August heat, hanging
for a moment above the dark, running creek
before making the splash, unconcerned about things
like hypothermia or snakes or rocks. Only wimps
went in slowly. Better to get it over quickly and then
climb out, stand shivering
on the root-riddled bank, squelching [...]

“I will die in Paris in a rainstorm. . .”
                                             –Vallejo
 
 
I will die in Virginia in a snowstorm,
buried in the grave of a forty-inch drift,
on a gray day, in February, like this one—
wind whipping its way around corners, stripping
the needles from the pine outside my window,
as I sit, entombed in my notebooks, dragging
words from [...]

This is the first of my poems that I will be sharing. It was relevant when I wrote it, and its become relevant again….Please enjoy!!
Remember Me

The cool summer breeze blows softly,
slightly ruffling my hair.
I close my eyes and whisper your name,
only to find that you’re not there.
You said you’d be back soon,
but it’s been over [...]

 
Today I walked a childhood path,
found to my surprise the aftermath
of progress in the meanest sense—
my memories rushed to my defense
to try and recreate the scene
of the woods I’d ruled as sprite and queen,
now laid waste, bulldozed bare,
a girlhood kingdom with no heir.
Fallen limbs, mown down trees,
gnawed up earth, men out to seize
a dollar from [...]