Author Archives: lara

under the heat dome

under the heat domethere is a Siamese cat­cross­ing the alley.he used to be my cat­but he lives with some oth­er woman now.the moon is also a cat—round-faced, old-fashioned, talkative.this moon-cat fol­lows mefrom room to roomas I wan­derin the mid-night.heat soaks into my body;curls under my diaphragm; tries to suf­fo­cate me.she finds me in my chairnestles … 

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Ginger

GingerAt the Palacio Municipal, you can pay out­stand­ing park­ing tick­etswith coun­ter­feit 20 dol­lar bill­sand frayed-edged lote­ria cards.I keep La Sirena for myselfand go out into the rain with only a paper umbrel­la to keep the ghosts out of my ears.They get in anyway.In the squarethe Independence Youth Orchestraplays waltzes for your wrist­watch that keep­stime backwards … 

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Ode to the Rings of Saturn

Ode to the Rings of SaturnWhat could bemore per­fect­than a plan­et­cra­dled in the arms of its own rings?A giant bed­ded­down in the icyre­mains of itsonce beau­ti­ful spouse.Songless world­belt­ed with the­white track of a 30-year storm.Huge head halo’d­by twirling dust mote­sand the bod­iesof his children:O Rhea, O Mimas,O Titan,pockmarked beauty—outpost of man’s ambitions.Their shad­ows stride across … 

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spark notes — how not to read a poem

spark notes — how not to read a poemAll nar­ra­tive poems are con­fla­tion­sof the things that hap­pened to the poet­and sto­ries told by her moth­er­when the January nights got to be too much.Do not be mis­led by the line,the poet was drunk when she laid it down.Dogs find the clas­si­cal­ly rig­or­ous poet­ry of the early … 

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I Was Once Persphone

I Was Once Persephonelast week I tore a page out of your book.tomorrow I will tape my own ver­se­to its ragged remnants.the rem­nants of your page I mean. it will be about a moon that spins slowlyand echoes our fugi­tive secrets.that one poem I can­not make work. oh Luna, oh Hyperion, oh Pluto — demoted.Published …

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