August was foggy,
September dry.
October grew too hot.

Plunging donkey          puberty devi 
       flings her thighs, swinging long 
   legs backward on her mount 

you stood close to the boy, bored,
looking off into the vanishing point

we stand in profile perfectly still
against the bulletin board

WANOKA (AP) Chimney Rock, which stood for centuries on the Oklahoma plain as a towering guide for covered wagons crossing the treacherous Cimarron River, has fallen victim to the same forces which created it. “Moisture and wind, the tools that sculpted it, reduced the eerie formation to a heap of rubble,” said Ernie Crumpler, Oklahoma University geologist.

You kneel at the stream
to drink from your hands.

her curled hands numb as a tin cup
against her cheeks as icy water
runs down the over-heated skin

I remember when the lights cut out in Prek Eng
the women kept cooking
Three whole tomatoes fried in the dark

Often I have knelt beside her as she lay on the white leather sofa,
repeating to herself, Maybe one day I die soon. All my life, I’ve heard this

it was great to be a little sick with fear but
it’s better to be alive with a driver’s license