PUBLICATIONS
Poems in Swallows and Waves (Sarabande, Jan 2016) appear in publications from around the world, including
Australian Book Review, Boston Review, The Buenos Aires Review, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Kyoto Journal,
Poetry International, Stand, and elsewhere.
SAMPLE POEMS
Crows
In perpetual silhouette
perform against bronze. As exhausted
dancers, undressed behind
a scrim, the suggestion of nakedness
more erotic than…
En masse, they argue and flee
between slim sessions of peace. This
is existence: pain leashed
or unleashed.
Wings press against ribs in politesse
or unfurl in demonstrations
of power. When it's over,
crows remain as debris, Ebony confetti,
wrecking more the wrecked world.
—After
Crows by Unknown, Japan
(first appeared in
The Nation)
Swallows and Waves
Massive, the sea sweeps
and swerves, furious as a dragon.
Salt-hewn, foam—
roughed, it troubles the thirteen
swallows who cluster—
identical, overlapping—trying
to build one steady thing.
Mist wets their breasts
and makes flying heavy. The sea
has no shore. All middle,
dense as middle age.
Birds may be welcome, then,
as minor miracles, granting grace
to that universal struggle.
—After the painting "Swallows and Waves" by Okamoto Shuki, 1785-1832, Japan
(first appeared in
Tricycle)