The TVs bolted to the low ceiling are muted.               Closed captioning appears on the screens                          hanging over humming treadmills and    smashing weights. I’m desperate to run from my             kids’ sadness. I am rearing them alone while                           husband’s at war. I will only run in place,    though, as evening sunlight angles through the YMCA ... Continue Reading →

Life doesn't always float on clouds sometimes, it wakes you up       two hours late       or it       leaves you by the side of the road       in a thunderstorm.       It can be more of a cold shower       or      an empty roll of toilet... Continue Reading →

You’re using “you” in poems these days, the dreaded second person. So, you’ve found no way inside yourself—it’s just like staring at a mirror’s back—and “you” might blast a path? Each new day, you re-enact a dimly lit creation myth. Ten thousand iterations ought to do the trick: from chaos, to an ever-morphing set of... Continue Reading →

My heart may be as common as paper but it is filled to the margins with love. My love was not yours to take. It is mine to share however I choose. I have scars that spill when torn. I have masks fused and worn to bits. I have skin as thin as air. Every... Continue Reading →

The sideboard was full of magazines. Not whole magazines but pages torn from them. Pages of recipes. Meals never eaten. Exotic desserts never attempted. Guests never invited or entertained. At least the furniture had been used, had had many years of use. The clothes had been worn, the pictures admired and enjoyed. But the recipes... Continue Reading →

When we hitchhiked just past midnight Aiming for Orillia by dawn, the Still-life sights along Lake Couchiching Seemed unreachable, by far. We were 20 and 26 respectively, each had agendas the other Longed for. I, a reprise to my grand escape when Only 15; you, a means to find peace through My dogged adventure. We... Continue Reading →

I do not fear you pain, I fear your brother, The pain that gets others. Regular pain, I find you simple. You are what comes and goes. You are temporary, fleeting.  Your brother I cower to.  For he is unpredictable, ruthless. He attacks the ones I love. The ones I love, I can't protect. Their... Continue Reading →

I don’t mind the orders to stay inside I favor the life of a recluse The recluse lives owing few favors I can email friends I’ve never met Someday I may meet those email friends I live in the amusement park of my mind I amuse my parked mind thinking of you solving one of... Continue Reading →