Grandma’s Arms

2015

Grandma’s brown arms
wrapped around the world
and held it tight,
close to her bosom,
close to her heartbeat.
Grandma’s brown arms
always listened,
paid attention,
knew just how tight
to squeeze,
and when to let go.

The Cathedral—June Thirteenth

2015

Because the vistas end in arches that do not change And the grillwork of sails forecasts a season of palms The dove holds a steady hover over the crossroads of

Blessed for Life

By Mike Hazard ● 2015

A wild-looking man I don’t know from Adam begged a ride from the PO to the Dorothy Day Center. He’s jazzed, jazzed about a Thanksgiving feast. With a shock of

POW WOW

By Maryam Marne Zafar ● 2015

The steady drum beat. The high trilling voices. The whipping colors of the people.   POW WOW!   The soft stomping of moccasins upon the earth matching the shush-shush shuffle

Untitled

2015

children burst from the earth right outside my door not waiting to be picked

Central Corridor Light Rail Construction

2014

It will leave nothing. Nothing. The future comes, ripping the asphalt up—black, jagged slabs.

A Mother’s Hope

2014

Proud back with a chest high in the air Swaying with desire Never knowing when to bend Afraid to break Walking into the wind...

Haircut

2014

Fool that I was with my scissors...

Untitled

2014

It’s spring! DerFrühling! Printemps! Ring bells! Play the sackbut and shawm! Excel. Rise and shine...

Bald-headed Men and Sundays

2014

My boys viewed their mid-1980s births in the old Midway Hospital on University between Porky’s and Ax-Man as an embarrassment, a slight their Saint Paul mom had designed to punish them by withholding the polished corridors of HCMC in their own hometown...

Skeleton of a Nation

2014

jagged rocks dusted red bleed rose water from ancient springs who was baptized here saved and sustained by sacrificial land...

A Little Rock

2014

A rock on the ground, next to the rock a tree, on the tree is a bird, its feathers like the river...