Red Tin Noodles

Oh Santa, please bring me some nukes for Christmas. Just leave some megatons beneath my tree. My Russian pen pal asked you for the same thing. And I don’t want him to have more than … Read more

On Clough Road when I was a child we had some maple trees. In fall the leaves lay on the lawn, in places to my knees. My dad would rake this dried debris into one … Read more

Listening to John Cale, thinking of Foghorn Leghorn. Might have a fever. Early morning skull swells, looking to extricate eyeballs. Sinuses screaming with graffiti, yellow-green protests on germ warfare. Hacking along to every song, pillow … Read more

I walked into black plastic arms and it felt like home. Perhaps the hard green soldiers had taken this beach. The beehives formed the outer edges of the strike zone. Every day the new best … Read more

Nixon had a running mate named Spiro. Their combined integrity was zero. Nixon was a paranoid and liar. Agnew was a goon and vilifier. Both fled office to avoid a trial, leaving legacies most dark … Read more

Most of all, I’d like to thank, the big three, Dylan, Bruce and Hank, Elvis, Van and Jerry Lee, Cash, the Clash and GBV, Cohen, Bowie, Brubeck, Cream, Nine Inch Nails and Marley’s dream, Neil … Read more

Remember the time when our waters were fine, when the rivers weren’t cloudy all day? When the fish used to swim in the fresh or the brine, before chemicals came into play. But now plastic … Read more

Ten years ago today, my heart went on a short vacation. It called me in my dream state from a pay phone at a station. "I’m sitting just outside your chest. It’s really quite a … Read more

A couple days ago, I miscarried. Just a little blob covered in red. Now they tell me it’s got to be buried. Bad enough my zygote child is dead. Fetus funerals are the law in … Read more

When the Ray Gun wasn’t on his meds, he might, off the cuff, say, "Nuke the Reds." Once he’d shouted, like a baseball call, "Mister Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" But he wasn’t able to … Read more

Life is the wonder socket, a pulse of ice and fire that churns the steam of dreams, a forest of unbidden shadows’ masked parade of time. The prayer of clocks cannot drown the mystery of … Read more

Suddenly, everyone was wearing red hats. Those that didn’t were vilified, even pushed around. Beneath their crimson brims they screamed of country. People without proper hats were scared to go outside. They had to sneak … Read more

Mrs. Ritz spits out bits of olive pits from the knitted chair in which she always sits. Her entire house is filled with strange mementos. She freely admits addiction to pimentos. She’s surrounded by her … Read more

Never pin your hopes on a phantom. Massage your cliff face daily and oil all squeaking parts. Walk lightly on the wire of consciousness. Sweep street smarts to the sidewalk, then run. Smash ideas into … Read more

Games are mathematics diluted in imagination. Backgammon a stepladder of pure numbers. Checkerboard a diamond of bad hops. All war games are spawn of great lord chess. Monopoly is the capitalist Candy Land. Dominoes are … Read more

Does watching Snowden break the law? The government knows what you saw. Will they now brand you as a traitor, haul you off to somewhere later? Once you were a common Joe. Now you’re in … Read more

Get a bunch of lying, cheating billionaires together. It’s a bet there’ll be a spate of money-making weather. Bonds will bury dupes in debt; be the biggest bank heist yet. Who the hell is pulling … Read more

A rusting pile of iron ore lies on the floor for purposes unknown. Down on the block an old gamecock has found himself upon the clock and flown. While whistles sigh and poets die, the … Read more

Windy and cold and smelling of leaves. Look to the sky, you can see through the trees. Chipmunks are storing their harvest of nuts. Winter is coming, no ifs ands or buts.