ISSUE #18

BLOODLANDS

(First I wrote “bland lands”)

Could be a score or map of the heart?
Where is the “heart” anyway?   Hanging
above a doorway threshold    a fireplace
icon    full of impossible scars

“Love and Irony” is the name
of a small memoir

I toasted corn tortillas    melted
cheese    washed the pile of towels
and a white blanket that pills

Does the map include flaccid Florida?

There might be mountains    plastic
wine cups   and also plastic “micro-beads”
from certain face and body wash   detected
by scientists in the LA River

My house smells like spice and garlic
New moon Aires
          the one who hates enclosure

Fly with heavy wings

I should like to see a flower

Hoa Nguyen