Money has been so tight lately.
We’ve given up things that aren’t necessary.
My father says that new books aren’t necessary.
My father doesn’t understand.
I just need one more.
Reading is like breathing.
Leaving this world and traveling to another,
but always coming back.
I don’t always want to come back.
The cracking sound that comes from the spine of
a brand-new book the first time it’s opened –
That’s my music.
Just one more book.
A herd, yes, a herd,
not a flock, of grackles
weighted down telephone wires,
accosted tree branches,
assaulted the city with their presence.
The raven cannibals mobbed
the air, guzzled silence,
flapped their wings,
stirred the people to anger
with their obese songs.
Anger was stirred and stirred
until it became a curtain.
Behind the curtain people plotted
and the grackles started falling
from a heated dancing sky.
Some said poison.
This afternoon, on my way from work,
I found a grackle outside my door,
fallen -- its wings, great tail -- motionless,
bill pointed upwards,
opened like an empty wallet,
unfolding its bird language,
singing its last accolades
to the sky's blue performance.
A full moon sat nestled in the sky.
The stars twinkled in the night.
The cool night air flowed over my face.
What a calm romantic place.
Walking, I heard what seemed like familiar steps.
My pace quickened to complete my journey.
Then there we stood, as a shadow of the night.
We were silhouettes in the pale moonlight.
Filled with wonder as our eyes met.
I became dry of mouth and light of head.
My heart felt ill at ease
As those three little words she said,
"Your wallet, Sir."
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This locker room sermon grinds to a climax
with 18:43 on the pre-game clock.
The pot-bellied preacher-coach
lumbers up the stairs
to the sauna-gym, where
he wheezes clichés
at five sinewy colts, who are
slick with sweat,
breathless with exertion,
unable to deny allegations of poor defense
and missed free throws;
exhausted by the frenetic pace of the game
and the fleeting nature of youth
that will turn them into preacher-coaches
soon enough.