( ghosts in earthly colors i )

( the ghost ship )

( cruel acts )

( an empty space left behind )

coming out of childhood -

it was like returning from
a long period of wandering
in some remote and sacred
place.
it is polluted now
by mingled faults
and slips in memory

(styrofoam cups bobbing in
the ocean, browning holiday
wreaths, and every ballpoint pen
inkless when needed most)

i cannot trust my older selfto tell you ( Read more... )

i.

as a child i was sick
almost always. half-deaf
and absent-minded with
boiling liquid running out
of my nose, making noises
like a panicked dog.

my grandmother
who like all grandmothers
had the faculties to
see the future -
dedicated me

with best-founded science
to caridad del cobre
who is also ochun ( Read more... )

it was always the words
that had her.

especially on paper -
and especially the scything
curve of the cyrillic Be.
it had nothing to do
with any document

- not the paradoxes ( Read more... )

if life does anything
it accumulates. a collection of overexposed ( Read more... )

though you may never know ( Read more... )

i ( Read more... )