the sweet juices. I want to believe

they are kissing to save the world,

but they’re not. All they know

is this press and need, these two-legged

beasts, their faces like roses crushed

together and opening, they are covering

their teeth, they are doing what they have to do

to survive the worst, they are sealing

the hard words in, they are dying

for our sins. In a broken world they are

practicing this simple and singular act

to perfection. They are holding

onto each other. They are kissing.

Acknowledgments

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the editors of the following journals and anthologies in which some of these poems or earlier versions of them first appeared:

Agni: “Dust”

American Poetry Review: “The Thief,” “The Lovers,” “Sunday Radio,” and “What Could Happen”

American Voice: “Aphasia” and “Late October”

Bakunin: “The Aqueduct” and “Kaleidoscope”

Haight Ashbury Literary Journal: “Enough Music” and “Singing Back the World”

New England Review: “The Job”

Tar River Poetry: “Homecoming” and “Landrum’s Diner, Reno”

Yellow Silk: “Twelve,” “This Close,” “Fast Gas,” and “For My Daughter Who Loves Animals”

ZYZZYVA: “After Twelve Days of Rain,” “Finding What’s Lost,” and “What We Carry”

“This Close” was included in Lovers (The Crossing Press, 1992); “The Thief” and “The Lovers” were included in Wild Nights (Shambala Publications, 1994).

My special thanks to the Heart’s Desire Poetry Gang: Christina, Laurie and Ron, and especially Kim, who sings when I can’t, the two Janes, Judy, Geri, the two Mollys, Jeanne, Joyce, the two Steves and V, Brenda, Patricia, Stefanie and Sam, Kathy and Tom: the Cosmic Travelers, Lily, Donald, Leslie and Howard, Chana, who I didn’t thank enough the last time, Mills College, Oliver’s Books, my family, who have entrusted me with their stories, the BOA Boys, Don Schenker and the heaven of Hurd’s Gulch, Tristem and Christopher, my students, my teachers, Rosen, my mentor and healer, Phil, who keeps on noticing, Boo and Daphne, and to Al, for every little thing he does.

About the Author