ABOUT

CONTENTS

EDITORIAL

ARCHIVE

LAGNIAPPE

MAST

SUBMISSIONS

Venus Envy

Desire none other than

what remains an armless

shaft of marbled delight

whose muscled torque

twists ever upward in-

to space—leaving all

that earthbound ruin

behind like so much

chiseled stone falling

away from those hands

that had given it form.


Ekphrasis in Excelsis Deo

Not by carving came Golgotha, great gouts of blood
dried into effigy—streaks of rusty pigment
straight out of the quattrocento now spilling into
clubs intent on love: Butter both sides of his cheeks
the ass master shrieked inside a houseboy's
zippered mask, studs and nipple rings oblivious
to Masaccio's Christ nailed under gold-leafed skies.



After the Funeral

Two dead spiders on the tile floor at dusk—
By dawn, the whole house would be swept.




Mememto Mori

Back-lit by an x-ray box,
                                           her ghostly hips
cradle to some lullaby that comforts us
no more—
                   that pink carnation propped up
in a disposable gift-shop vase an attempt
to console
                  while Mother was still alive—



Ghost Ranch

            Found herself in a world that left her
alone enough immersing hours in work
            that somehow made loneliness sound
                        a lot like loveliness a palpable dream
            made possible by the receipt
of an inheritance over years continued
             to produce in spite of cormorants
                        flying low among casitas frying up
             sopaipilla adrip with honey
before the advent of electricity
             and running water there on the edge
                         of a wilderness beyond anyone's reach.