Author Archives: lara

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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Tina & Rico and Bernard & Theresa

Tina & Rico and Bernard & TheresaMama made the switch jump the trackchoo-chooshe said as she stuffed apple­sauce up the baby’s nose.Tina want­ed Ricowanted Rico so hard­she near­ly split­that water­mel­on boozed hardRico spli­tand Tina went away to Bernard.Bernard brave as a bear­fal­ters his father faceon the stair­case to Theresa’s room.Bernard will only saythat Theresa is … 

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Waiting for the Rains

Waiting for the Rains20 miles to the north the Bolt Creek fire burns up a draw towards the ridge climb­ing along lines laid deep in the soilit burns first one waythen anoth­erthe weird sen­tience of wild fire­its imper­a­tive to con­sume and grownow blocked and burn­ing back on itself­burn­ing the trees to char­coal and then burning … 

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Arson

ArsonDawn cracks open the world,forcing its upper win­dows ajar.Letting the first spark oflight into the darkness.Dawn takes dark­ness for granted.Takes her job of break­ing night for granted.Dawn is care­less, heed­less ofhow bright­ly she burns.She doesn’t con­cern her­self with the flam­ma­bil­i­ty of daylight.She wants only to extin­guish the stars. Published on The Laundry Line, 15 April, … 

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