The Black Ugly Duckling
So, in first grade in a school
where I was one in three of Black
kids in the whole goddamn school,
my teacher (let’s call her Mrs. Snow)
decided her class was going to put…
The Black Ugly Duckling
So, in first grade in a school
where I was one in three of Black
kids in the whole goddamn school,
my teacher (let’s call her Mrs. Snow)
decided her class was going to put…
Love Poem with Parenthetical
I
Shadow branches rise through our bedroom window
It’s garbage day Tuesday We hear squeaky wheels
a blue jay lifting from the sky the small sighs of waking
We’ve unplugged the clock and can’t …
In Praise of Disquiet
The years are fine with dust that settles in the eyes.
The stars are bound to gods from abandoned temples.
By night you fear the abdication of the sun.
By day you wear the light …
Translated from the French by Nancy Naomi Carlson
[the tree remembers]
the tree remembers
this legend
a grave
a cross
and a cloud of silence
since
l’arbre se souvient
de cette légende
une tombe
une croix…
I have probably failed as a father, thinks Marshall, as he pumps gas and watches through the windshield as his daughter sucks on a cigarette while apparently thinking herself out of sight.
How did she get so good at …