Poema

Two new poems published

2011-11-02T21:31:00.000-05:00

My poems "Chasing Light" and "Donetsk Revisited" have made their way into Tuck Magazine! Thank you to the editors! You can read them here.

The Parsons Confession published by second magazine

2011-09-02T08:01:00.001-05:00

"The Parson's Confession" now appears in Deep South Magazine Summer Issue. Check it out here.

Poems Published by Askew Literary Journal and Vox Poetica

2011-06-18T23:05:00.001-05:00

Two more poems appear online and a third in a print journal. In Vox Poetica there is Corona Solis and in Vox Poetica Contributor Series 9 there is Donetsk 2009.

Askew Literary Journal has published Caerlton. While my poem does not appear on their website, I encourage you to check out their site in any case! Click here.

Three Poems Published by Milk Sugar

2011-06-08T22:59:00.000-05:00

Milk Sugar Literary Journal has published the following three poems.

Taxi Girl
Found In Translation
Subway Portraits

All three poems are inspired by time I've spent in Ukraine. Please check the website out!

Three More Published

2010-12-10T23:41:00.001-06:00

Apropos Literary Journal has just posted their inaugural online edition. Three of my poems are featured in the issue. Please check them out!

Holodomor
Street Corner Blues
River Song

"Yakov's Stairs" Published

2010-11-14T17:23:00.001-06:00

My poem "Yakov's Stairs" is now published in Issue 9 of Caper Literary Journal. Check it out here.

"The Parson's Confession" published

2010-09-18T14:06:00.001-05:00

My poem "The Parson's Confession" now appears on page 63 of the September 2010 edition of Eclectic Flash Literary Journal. Click on the link to access the online edition. You can order the print edition by accessing the following link: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/eclectic-flash-volume-1-september-2010/12573964

You can also listen to me reading my poem on the Voices Page.

Making Love published by Vox Poetica

2010-08-22T18:27:00.002-05:00

Please check out the Vox Poetica link below. Note: I originally posted a link that did not work. Below is the corrected link! Sorry about any confusion!

http://poemblog.voxpoetica.com/2010/08/19/making-love.aspx

To Notice For The First Time

2010-06-09T07:03:00.000-05:00

I watched him unobserved in full view
as five bare toes, slightly spread, felt
their way to explore below the chair on which
his belly laid. He played in the room
of vinyl and steel, of strangers and sounds: a waiting
place, not knowing what he was waiting for
(both years of his life). All he knew was taste
and touch, smell and sound. And now another
sense was just in reach of those five

bare

toes,

slightly

spread.

Two days later he sat straight up with eyes
wide open in wonder: to a brand new world
filled with shadow, shade, light and radiance.

____________
April Poem A Day prompt: "To (blank)...:

Sanctus

2010-06-03T06:25:00.002-05:00

I am called, today.

The sun lights your kindness in the sky.

I praise you, my Father

and lift your name on high.

Your mercy and your love

lights the hope within my eye—

O holy One

O blessed Son

You are the One who gives

the sunshine and the darkness in my life.

But even in the night-time

I know I cannot hide

from your mercy and your grace

and the care that you provide.

The life you give:

a gift to live.

I place my life, my all—

body, soul and spirit in your hands.

I’ll live for you, my Father

and follow your commands.

A full, self-sacrifice

is all that grace demands.

To die for you

is life anew.

Dust and Ash

2010-05-11T22:42:00.000-05:00

Hands filled with dust and ash

relentless cycle of earth, moon, and sun.

What was once future blurs into past;

tendons ache as we try to hold on

to that which we cannot grasp

victimized by gravity.

Life implodes upon itself

into a new sense of reality.

Two Poems Published

2010-05-07T17:25:00.004-05:00

"The Literary Lion" and "The Salesman's Son" appear on Lyrical Passion Poetry E-zine.

Please check the website out.

The Salesman’s Son

The returning always seems
swifter than the leaving until
you get closer to where you leave
again. Then time expands, stretching
out like thick rubber bands
that bound his mileage books together.
I hated his leaving: never there
ever present eyes that followed
me every day of my life. They haunt
me even now. I don’t remember
a day hating him, not really;
no animosity there—
just a pained and plain indifference.
Ever-present-always-absent.
I used to want to wish him to Hell.
But I could not bring myself
to care that much.
The room still carries the scent of urine
reminiscent of my father
on his final birthday
two weeks before he said goodbye
the last time. The leaving now
somehow seemed longer than
before. The regretful ragged breath
could never express his hazel eyes.
Time expands, stretching out
and then he is gone once again.

The Literary Lion

We wander into an old

book store: into a palace

of pages, this tomb of tomes—

and there we drink tea

surreptitiously stealing

words. Feeling the guilt

of my theft and to make

amends I procure

a lean chapbook of poems.

Baptized into the bright

light flooding through

streaked window pane

I find myself crying

out with Isaiah over

prison cells, saying

Kiddush for a day old

child, wandering empty

down the streets of old

Manhattan: an immigrant friend

of homeless children.

Lament for Corinth

2010-05-04T21:29:00.001-05:00

Father, they’ve divided my body!

Stretching my arms so they cannot cross

they pound nails and tear my flesh.

Forgive them; they know not what they do.

Father, they’ve divided my clothes!

Playing games around this sacred cross,

they fight over torn pieces of cloth.

Forgive them; they know not what they do.

Father, they’ve divided my people!

How soon they forget the word of the cross,

they rip and they tear my body in two.

Forgive them; they know not what they do.

Aftermath of a Teenage Romance

2010-05-04T09:07:00.001-05:00

Her name was Rosa and I was in love,
transfixed by her deep crystal eyes.
I was too senseless to know the difference
between transfixed and being impaled.
It seems to me that a rose by any
other name still draws blood.

Snow Queen

2010-05-02T23:15:00.001-05:00

desolate waste land
wind, rain, ice and blowing snow
tears from a cold heart

Serenity

2010-05-01T00:13:00.000-05:00

a night for drinking
green tea sweet with blueberries
stillness in a cup

Release

2010-05-01T00:12:00.000-05:00

Rope burns calloused hands,

panic and fatigue set in,

wet palms grip tighter.

Failure close at hand:

stomach churns in frustration.

Peace found in release.

Revisiting Psalm 121

2010-04-28T23:11:00.000-05:00

There never seemed to be much hope

this side of the heavens. So

we pinned our hopes upwards. Perhaps

there was a chance among the stars.

We worshiped sun and moon. The gods

lived in the hills and halls of air.

We set them in the high places,

but they never seemed to rise

above our own imaginations.

So we lowered our sights and looked

to ourselves for release

but found dust and ash sifting

through filthy hands and dirtied fingers.

Then you showed up out of the blue

and raised our eyes to gaze beyond

the heavens and into the mind of God.

This Is The End of the World

2010-04-28T23:09:00.001-05:00