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I see you, western New York, Finger lakes wolf-clawed Across the map, sleeting sheets Of snow peppering the salted Highway. Two hundred and fifty six Miles of abandoned tractors, Silos filled with hollow sky, Green verge of fencerow And shaggy headed reeds, Aesthetically invasive, nodding “Yes, yes” where Wegman’s Parking lot meets the marsh. This is precisely the same Everywhere, [...]

The snow lies in cockscomb Shadows on the tin roof, Hiding from the sun. Little can for long, Perhaps the bottoms of stones, The undercut stream bank, American living rooms. In my dim kitchen, the onions Sprout green spiked hairdos, Veggie punks, like the ones They showed on tv when I was a kid, desperate to scare. It worked at [...]

I’m still in love, It turns out, After all this time. Where else was there to be? The woman walks her dog Along the sidewalk, conspicuously Avoiding eye contact, and I can’t know her pain. The boy stares into his screen, Watching himself play himself, And I look over his shoulder, My own blue eyes reflected. Those nested acres of [...]

Gentle, where the chainsaw Gouges the bark, Throwing thick chips, Ripping life asunder. I work in the cool December light To clear the year. Saplings sprung from pasture, So much life! There’s Nothing somnolent about The saw, no effete snoring, This hungry, smoking bastard. I grip it tenderly, Felling a black cherry, A box elder maple, A fork-branched mulberry. How [...]

Planets aren’t supposed to twinkle, But Venus, low on the horizon, Has wrapped itself in glittering glass, Sparkling a thumb’s width below Saturn. When the photo arrives in the mail From a distant cousin’s distant cousin, The old house looks little as it does now, Festooned with a milliner’s ivy hat. The old dog goes lame, and the X-rays Show [...]

The great rush of ivy Up the side of a sycamore— How far does it know to go? Red leaves, puddled before A stoppered storm drain, Barely moving in crystal water. The most fertile soil lies Between the highway and the field, Where the farmer can’t till. Have I spent a thousand lifetimes Learning to see the grass? I suspect [...]