In the quiet grove, Sable Squirrel fell hopelessly in love with a walnut clinging to her tree. “Come with me, my darling,” Sable whispered, brushing her paw along the shell. The walnut blushed inside her husk. “I’m not ready to fall,” she murmured, “the world seems so... hard.” Every day Sable returned, telling her stories of sunlight, laughter, love. One breezy dawn, the walnut let herself go, tumbling into Sable’s arms....

I found her curled beneath a creosote bush, three miles out, where no one ever goes. Her parched lips mouthed, "I knew you'd come." I nursed her in my shelter, beneath the red stone cliff. Water first, in tiny sips, then slowly bits of food. At nightfall we sat across the fire, her eyes assaying me. "Coyote?" she whispered. "And Raven, too?" I gave no answer. We made love three times while the full moon arced. With each c...

My mind is filled with poisons      hemlock cork-stopped knackered bottles      snakeroot each filled with words that burn      mandrake and smother and sharply bite       foxglove what once was pure and live      monkshood that's dying now between us      belladonna as sure as my garden grows      

Forty-six years ago, Bobby opened the doors and let us in. Battered and peeling even then, it was our sanctuary of truth. We learned fast to come and go in groups on its sketchy street and did we ever. The music was loud, the drinks cheap, and the light low enough to mantle the next morning's regret. Going to the ladies was a euphemism you learned quickly and wasn't for the faint-hearted. Then the world decided yes, you'r...

Leather clad knuckles rap the bar. Irish Jack grabs the whisky and pours a shot. "How ya be, Bill? Good week?" "Got those bastard Darcy boys, but they're thin shit for the miles rid. Need me some tender mercy tonight. Fanny free?" "Always for ya, Bill. Likes the way your Colt hangs, eh?" "Somethin' like that." Up the stairs, the door squeeks open. She's propped up on the bed, dressed in her flouncy working gown. Gloves an...

Rita sees them coming, moving carefully through the Friday crowd. She waits till they reach their spot, then kills the booming juke. "Clear the floor!" she commands, quelling the protests with a glare till the two are standing alone. She punches up their song and the room fills with ghosts. Eyes only for themselves, they embrace and slowly dance. They were girls then, lovers when the madness struck. One to the camps, the...

Our meeting was by chanceone like leaf falling on anothernot with planned descentbut landing by the whims of fate Unlike the transient leafslave to further flicks of windyou chose to stayengaging me We're twins in body, you and Iour lusting carnal appetitefinding easy fulfillmentfrom the first But life needs true sustenancenot just sexual sweetsit's in our hungry mindswhere the battle played out That nearly ended our danc...

On weekends I used to go into townto shoot in black and white.People strolling, kids running free,dogs or cars or any funny thing.The woman with the camera. Now I just shoot ghosts alongthe plague scoured streetsand empty parking lots,lucky for a distant shot of lifein the few unshutter shops. Sitting on a sunny bench,having coffee and a smoke,it's like she's been waiting for meto come around the cornerand capture her sol...

An hour each Wednesday is our time of loveafter I check the stations along the forest creek.We meet where beavers made a little pooland sweet grass covers the sloping bankcanopied by sycamores dancing in the breeze. We met by chance when I spotted herat the water's edge on a hot summer day.Blouse pulled out and open, she was coolingher bared breasts with a dampened scarf,humming to the burbling water's song At the snap of...

"Gimme the cash, bitch!" Rita looks up from behind the bar. "Or what? she asks calmly. "Or I cap your black ass, cunt!" he menaces, waving the gun in his hoodie pocket. Rita flicks a switch and the jukebox goes silent. "Ladies? This roach wants my money. What do you think?" she calls out, looking past him. His eyes jack wide open hearing half a dozen automatics being chambered behind him. A two-way crackles. "Sargent? Chi...