Previously in The MacGuffin
and forthcoming in Drumskin and Bones,
from Salmon Poetry (Ireland) 2021
What the Hummingbirds Seek
We forked left along the river, hiked
to a wooden bridge. Up the arc, we drummed
the boards with brown-caked shoes, crossed over
to a place I must have been before; we came
into the scent of bees. You can't smell bees,
you said, but I was sure; sweet hugged us
like a fog. Vines twisted up through slatted fences,
teemed with spikey trumpets, cream
and apricot, honeysuckle throbbing.
I reached up to pluck a flower, pinched
the bud from the narrow end. Taste it, I said,
drawing out the wiry style, globe of nectar
dotting the i––
touched it to your tongue.
and forthcoming in Drumskin and Bones,
from Salmon Poetry (Ireland) 2021
What the Hummingbirds Seek
We forked left along the river, hiked
to a wooden bridge. Up the arc, we drummed
the boards with brown-caked shoes, crossed over
to a place I must have been before; we came
into the scent of bees. You can't smell bees,
you said, but I was sure; sweet hugged us
like a fog. Vines twisted up through slatted fences,
teemed with spikey trumpets, cream
and apricot, honeysuckle throbbing.
I reached up to pluck a flower, pinched
the bud from the narrow end. Taste it, I said,
drawing out the wiry style, globe of nectar
dotting the i––
touched it to your tongue.
LINKS to ONLINE POEMS
"To My Parents"
The Shore
Issue 5: Spring 2020
"Musician's Focal Dystonia"
JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association
May 16, 2017
"Bodies Revealed Exhibition"
Intima
May 2017
"Pockets" and "Bones"
Sheila-Na-Gig
March 2020
"Two-Way Mirror"
West Texas Literary Review 2018
"What to Do About Winter (Broadside: art by Katie Nealis)
The Michigan Poet
"To the Story Girl"
Dunes Review 2017
"Duet"
Dunes Review 2017
Link to Interview with Joanna White
Brilliant Books in conjunction with Dunes Review
"Musician's Focal Dystonia Letters"
Hospital Drive 2017
"Masks"
KYSO Flash
Winter 2015