SELF-PORTRAIT

A double reflection

in a second storey

window: a tree,

twice itself,

and glowing

in the glass. 

The leaves–

what a portrait 

they've painted

with dusk.

CATCHING KILROY?

Hidden between

a parked car

and a shrub

in a mall,

teetering on

one knee,

is a man

in tatters.

He is

hard at work

etching

a message

into a curb

with a piece

of white chalk.

Everything

about this moment,

almost missed, is

urgent,

absurd,

private,

tragic,

and startlingly 
precious.

THE THRESHOLD

There is a door.

There is a knocking.

There is a voice.

Voices.

A threshold.

But nothing

is working

as it should.

And so…

There are

no openings,

no crossings,

no entries.

Just hinges

hanging  

with hurt.

THE DEVIL’S SPIT

Negotiating

a difficult conversation,

like a game of Jenga,

is a built-thing,

requiring

finesse, a light touch.

Approach

is everything.

It’s a game of

arrangement,

placement.

Of balance.

If the devil happens

to be at your back

when you’re talking

and belches

or spits,

you may just see

the whole construction

come tumbling down.

Keep the Dark Prince at bay

if you can.

Tell him to mind

his own damn business.

To celebrate Independence Day

somewheres else.

And to be sure to take

his slaver with him.

CIRCULAR REFERENCE ERROR:

Life As An Excel Worksheet

Until you do something different,

a formula will run in the background

generating, indefinitely,

iterating errors, because

that is all it can do

when it sources only from itself.

Until you do something different—

change the formula,

change the reference—

the error won’t alter.

And the sum of what you’re after

will never truly compute.

Until you do something different…