Back­stage Pass There are faces within our fables—forever cloaked by a child­like desire to repli­cate. Major events. A chord pro­gres­sion. A roman­tic phrase, spe­cific to the smooth Venet­ian language—her five main vari­ants, con­spir­ing to cap­ture: your sub­tlest heart­break / my unlike­li­est closure—a dialec­tic loop whose every turn is said to shed its own the­ory on the […]

That you would balance—or else can­cel me: was the ini­tial dream, the cog­ni­tive hand I was dealt. From birth And for­ward, the future of our myth took to melting-pot vil­lages, where word is spread and you never need lift A weapon. Or so I was told. To tear a score in half and save the […]

And arrived. The night was infor­mal, the date—escapes us. A bad wind break­ing down the debonair dia­logue: so that you can hear your­self at all—is now epic, now war­like is how crowds inhale: meters of syn­chro­nized Spi­der Lilies lus­ciously unfold­ing. In time will be screams. Under skies the color of dancer. Mar­tyred Pen­dant branches, casting […]

The fields, if you remem­ber, smelled noth­ing like the dying foliage, after fumes from the aero­planes flooded your pos­ses­sions: the irri­ga­tion sys­tem, the house frame, prayers ris­ing like an over­ture, when braided together— They built a small fire to keep warned. Retelling the story of the rebels who’d run / against the grain—a ret­ro­grade. Retelling […]

My Euphrates Under patch­work the color of cow­ardice: our vil­lage. Fall. We are wired to lie. Detec­tors: also known as vocal cords. The minute I said it I knew it was true. I needn’t need you / to need to be with you. End­lessly roam­ing o’er the earth’s face. Thus begins our query. Would the brave youth […]