A Fine Specimen

That woman over there, 

wearing a lead corset to keep herself 

from evaporating into the night, 

her vertebrae singing to the sleeping sparrows, 

snow falling from her tongue

while she listens to the incessant hum 

of the universe.

[LSS, 1/3/22]

Prairie Dawn

She once modeled for the artist

who created all those billboards

on the sides of abandoned barns 

in western Kansas, all those farmers’ 

wives with mechanical arms forever 

raising and lowering a steaming

cup of coffee they will never drink.

[LSS, 1/3/22]