I don’t want to return
to SLC– I know
it’s only fifty percent
congregational.
But the world seems
cultish.
Its sand revolts
the way a graduate
of Christian school
crashes into a rock
while rafting
whitewater,
begging salt
to return an act
of thirst.
(originally published in Writer’s Block Magazine, Winter 2025)
utah
A Courtship Beyond My Reckoning
You marry a Republican– hard not to judge
though I am trying, buoyant at my soft seat,
fingers hovering over a litany of criticisms–
my tongue is held, not fully unfurled onto
my wooden desk. My entirety disappointed
in my restraint while you merge into a beast,
boldly becoming a citizen I do not recognize.
(originally published in Evening Street Review, Summer 2022)
Utah Sandstone
I run from exceptional red.
Distance. Majestic arches. Loop-
de-loop of common want. Canyons,
or peace of mind. Say Zen. Say
Zion. Watch as wind-up forests
spiral from sand. Leaves whisper
to their coming branches in the vacant
hinge of a song. Don’t they
still reach for you. The lonely hoodoos
eroded in failed embrace. Treble clef,
or trouble. No beats for the metered dream.
(originally published in Turk’s Head Review – October 2015)