The boy on his way to school Saw the earth eating a dog. Black and brown, warm and sleek, A lolling grin so like its kind: It was killed by a car and Fell among the roadside weeds Without notice and was still. How long did the earth dance on Before the boy saw its [...]
A nameless beaver sprang the trap. Must have swum through it on his way up shore. The two dogs, Jax and Cleo, crouched in their winter coats, Gripped and pulled, But the snare held, Jealous of its prey. I found them: Red paw prints in the savaged snow, Scrabbling blindly at the brink. They parted [...]
My cat’s named “Chairman Maoâ€:* She’s dropped the “i†somehow. She’s dropped the thing, But, Marx bless Ming,** Still has a frightful Yao.*** __________________________________ The image above is a 2012 scan of a 1999 oil on oilcloth reproduction of a 1942 photograph of a late Victorian cameo of an early Victorian watercolour portrait of Chairman [...]
Her race presumes Imperious cuteness Conquers all—even Monday snowfall when, From her comfortable nest At the top of the stairs, This scroll of fur and claw Uncoiled, shot outside, Her eye distilled For the hunt: tiger demon Fell to winter’s ambush— Snow knives, hawk Shadow circling, Coyotes lambent Among the weeds, iron Curve of sky—and [...]
Victorian Violet Press editor Karen Kelsay, a frequent contributor to WIZ, sent this announcement: Victorian Violet Press, an online poetry magazine, is seeking submissions for the December issue. Please check out the magazine to get an idea of what type of poetry is published. You can find the magazine here. Guidelines: Our taste in poetry [...]
Last week my husband found himself in need of a computer monitor. In our part of SE Utah, if you need affordable computer parts of middling quality right away, you drive the 160 mile round trip to the nearest Walmart, located in the shadow of Mesa Verde in Cortez, Colorado. He left late and returned [...]
One night last week I was out late on the back porch pushing my special needs daughter up and down the porch in her wheelchair. My husband was out there, too, and we were talking. The porch is a rickety, second-story affair, so it creaks as I walk. The wheelchair rattles. If our neighbors here [...]
October 2, 2009. This morning, as I walk down the road toward Crossfire, I barely avoid stepping on a small, silver-and-grey-winged butterfly sitting on the pavement, trying, I think, to warm itself after our first night of ice-on-the-dog’s-dish cold. The insect’s coloration matches that of surrounding gravel. Only its thin wings and their accompanying shadow [...]
When we moved into our current house four years ago, we noticed a pretty, tortoise-shell cat crossing the yard frequently, always on her way to somewhere else. Her usual route brought her in from fields to the north, from which she traversed our weedy plot then went under the fence on our south property line, across the [...]