Chapbook “While Grashoppers Mate”
My first chap, “While Grasshoppers Mate” was released by Canton’s own Spare Change Press in 2008. A limited edition, copies are unfortunately no longer available.
Cover art by Scott Phillips
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Sample Poems:
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An Evening In
I position myself beneath a lamp,
prostrate on the acrylic carpet,
to nuzzle my well-worn notebook
with a pen and some intense scrutiny,
and my dog, a Bischon-Westie mix,
comes to join me, his bone hanging
from the side of his mouth like
one of Groucho Marx’s famous cigars.
As I begin to scribble and scratch,
he works over his rawhide bone,
both our faces the picture of focus,
chewing over what we must,
until one looks up, then the other,
and our eyes meet briefly with care
and understanding, before going back
not to our work, but to our pleasure.
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Silent on a Park Bench
I trace my finger over
tracks of scratched graffiti
as if these lovers’ initials might
be soothed by human contact.
The penknives used to carve
such sacred testimonials
are probably rusted by now,
dulled through a lifetime
of heavy breathing.
Lovers have eyes fixed on eternity.
They grab whatever tools are close by.
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The poem “A Matter of Course,” which appeared in the chapbook, can be read online at Dissident Voice.
