IN THE OUTDOOR SHOWER WITH MY PREGNANT WIFE The old frisbee from Burger Chef, once redbut faded now the pale pink of my wife’swidening aureoles, lies upturnedbeneath the saltwater drip of our saggingbeach towels. This world is full of objectssuccumbing to the gentle ebb of decay. But her body—loosening breasts and blue-veined thighs caughtin a…

UPDATE The boy builds a four-throated fishout of cardboard. The fish lips flap, blue-taped, from a body thatcarried bottles. See! He saysa large-mouth bass. I’d have smiled once (inwardly of course) at his fine imaginary, thought him unspoiled, amusing himselfwith the trash.                               Wasn’t I…

to any God that made mefeel ashamed.  Girls are takers,Mama used to say. I took every lesson     she gave me, learned  to swim out of my body & abandon it. With incense I burned pagesuntil a perfect eye stared back.  God drilled a hole to make us see. See? Mine is filthy.   He, too, eyed me each day afterschool,   …