Stars

He burned hot and bright like a distant campfire, like candlelight. He’d laugh his howling little cackle that pulled you into his slipstream as you made your way along the path, down the makeshift rope, repelling over the edge of the cliff and dropping weightless into the crystal cerulean waters of the rocky cove far below. Everything made him laugh. And almost everything he laughed at led you to math, calculating the odds of survival....

You never really know Who they bring along What ghosts are riding shotgun Talking, talking, talking All the way to the beach And drowning out the song   But everybody here Knows that ghosts can’t swim Cold water to them is searing heat And anyway They can’t even stand A bit of sand on their feet   The ghosts just stay in the cars Angry at the stars And their children down here below Made...

Mary and Joseph They live down the street We ate donuts on strings Tied to their tree Last Halloween But Christmas Eve is for listening To country music on the local radio While waiting in a long line of cars With out of state plates To see the scandalous Thunder couple Pretend it’s the worst Road trip of their lives When they could not find A single donut shop In Bethlehem   We saw a...

A day like any other They all end this way A flash of brilliant light The golden hour Becomes the golden years   And we look back on the day And all that we’ve done Reading the stories of our lives Words and letters Cut from different periodicals From newspaper advertisements And waiting room magazines Like a television ransom note Sent by an anonymous psychopath In hopes of blackmailing the publisher Into printing just one...