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& Darkness Moves In

The dead cowards my parents on a tear through the goddamn fields.

A Blessing

We watched our father chuck her boom box out the bedroom window.

A Childhood in Four Acts

End of October, days recede quickly into night. Leaves fall in slow motion.

A Dark Place

There was no sense in brushing off or any other civilized thing.

A Different Ending

The peanut seller tore sheets out of paperback books to make the cones.

A Funky Assortment of Plates

The preacher looked me in the eye. He laid his hand on my chest.

A Pandemonium of Want

Widow. I look up the etymology. To separate, split, cleave, divide.

A Personal Statement

“I’d like to talk to C about her personal statement,” Blattman said.

A Portion of Your Loveliness

My daughter’s favorite game is Holocaust. She’s quite inventive.

A Practical Mom

She can go to Bible study every Sunday and swear she’s still not convinced.

A Real Nice Baby and Other Poems

Royal baby George is tucked in the crook of his mother’s elbow.

A Son of Baghdad

For me, Selweh was the real magic. She was nothing like my mother.

A Vacuum Is a Space Entirely Devoid of Matter

I needed a paycheck a lot more than I needed to be kissed.

Accompaniment

We are going south where I know that my father is going to die.

Accounting

There was something in her voice, some awful, enduring fire.

Addendum and Other Poems

The animals are dying. All the beautiful women are dying too.

After Closing Up My Mother’s House and Other Poems

What if my mother could have been happy if I hadn’t been born?

All Good Here

Since his mother’s fall, Ali had been stopping by every week to help out.

All the Trimmings

The old man drinks some more liquor and whacks down two trees.

All-American Biography

Snows piling in his crying mouth. Cold gave him a light complexion.

Allegiance

“It was not wartime sentiment that moved me to ask you here.”

Amazed

My father made me watch softball on ESPN 2 to help me stay alive.

Amazement

He fell to the floor and begged the gods. The gods were silent.

American Mother

Love is trickling into Lady’s heart where usually there is only fear.

Anchor and Knife

The first time I met you I fought your father in the driveway.

Andale Mono

One door teaches to read for meaning and pleasure. Another shuts.

Andromeda Variations

As Andromeda, I practiced lapidary, cut my bare foot on the nautilus shell.

Another Dimension

Their mother was the real beauty of the family, or so everyone said.

Another Star

“Please, please, please,” she begged the class. “Please don’t do it.”

Arpeggio Progression in Missing Key and Other Poems

do you asks pretty sue know what I love what pretty please tell us