The Presence Between the Pages
"Every five years we must take down every scroll, stack by stack, and replace the rugs beneath them. We must also unroll the scroll and make note of its condition," the monk rasped. "The latter will not be your responsibility, young one, but we are...
The Hand of God
The day began with the botanist giving the physicist a hand in setting up countless contraptions around the rim of the clearing, describing an invisible net of arcane geometries held there five feet above the ground. She lugged the total station while...
Gigs
_Well, shit._ Winter trudged heavily through the piles of dead leaves lining the gutter, the lynx's broad paws crunching through them. There was a sidewalk, but this wasn't a mood for sidewalks. This wasn't a mood for keeping clean, staying out of the...
Unimportant Verse 11
_Yit'gadal v'yit'kadash sh'mei raba_ Would that I had the faith To pray daily. Eleven months to let you go, And an amen to end the sorrow.
Being Transgender
You get to explain gender to all of your friends -- And all of your family -- And maybe once more to be sure -- And random strangers -- And maybe, like, doctors and nurses who should probably know better; You get to explain to your partner...
Meaning & Self
There's some duality between sources of meaning, Between the types of stories we use to back identity. It's not quite good & bad or light & dark, Though I'm not yet sure just how to define it. Dad used to punish the dogs by locking then in...
There is too much fire in me
There is too much fire in me to be described by the soldering iron's tip. If I were to draw that across my flesh, it would all spill out at once. I'd melt, eaten whole by flames, and flow into a pool of molten silver. I would be borne up...
When I fall, I will remain whole
I keep hoping that, one day, I'll spring palladial from the bole of a tree. Fully formed, sexless, Conceived without desire or intent. My body will be virginal and clean, My mind fresh, my soul at ease. The tree, behind me, will stand crooked,...
Heligoland
Too many wine-dark seas need daily traversal, And here the shipping forecast calls for rain. The shipping forecast! What a load of bollocks. You can listen from start to finish And not hear a single word about how a day will feel. Or maybe...
Unimportant Verse 10
I could never tell you that you feel too much. That you feel too hard, or that your feelings overwhelm and overtake you. I could never tell you how beautiful that is. That I wish I could feel those things, that I wish I could feel that way. ...
Unimportant Verse 9
Tightly wound springs Of very carefully Not touching. Secret words To be said With confidence. Rules. Prohibitions. Limits. Discussions planned, Side-channels arranged, Whiskey purchased. And now anxiety Over what it means And how...
Unimportant Verse 6
Complementary, clashing anxieties. Dull clamor of intersecting feelings. Need, desire, craving, jealousy. Worry, fear, care, prayerful fretting. Love, lust, friendship, a need to share. Emotions on emotions on emotions, and, often, comfortable...