Poetry in the Moment

She left me twice in those six months. First, to end three years of mental fencing. Second, when she took her life. alone at the edge ... ri...

Sunlight slants through the window in bars of gold, collecting in a pool around my feet. Shrouded in her own darkness, my muse moans and scr...

It was the first day of school, and I waited by the community gate, keeping an eye out  for any sign of the school bus’ arrival. My mother ...

for Susan Sontag white poppy pinned to her son's first suit Remembrance Day Inside the top drawer of her husband's wood...

a new moon -- mother's letter heavy with voices from the past In the bottom drawer of the desk, there is my childhood photo wit...

for Nadia "We talked a lot, but he seldom listened: then I would get angry."  A faint smell of whiskey on her breath. She c...

That afternoon I was rocked into a deep sleep. In my dream I saw Mother holding me tightly and tearfully whispering a lullaby, "My chi...

Sitting in my ESL teacher's living room with its wall-to-wall Persian rugs, I am enveloped by family stories and jokes. Although half t...

After the last shift, they come in a babble of tongues, battling over the Canadian winter, work-related issues, and politics -- both from t...

leaves falling one begging bowl and a dog on Progress Avenue at noon men and women in suits walk at a quick pace thus the indiffer...

Sitting alone by the window, I look out at the maple branches swaying in the breeze. Out of nowhere, I feel the stab of a memory -- she wav...

for Oskar ink-black: smoke trails a life from the north tower Another sleepless night. Winter moonlight on the empty side of her ...

Mary invites me over to her place for an interview. She has her strands of hair dyed every color of the rainbow, and looks much younger tha...

like a newlywed standing by her wooden mailbox, like a hungry spider lurking in its dewy net, like a spring seed breathing under heavy sno...

I am here -- and not here. Every night I sleep in Taipei, but wake up in Ajax. My mind is winged by a yearning for things not yet lost. It ...

On my way to work at the meat factory, a dewy green leaf is shaken loose and blown away from a maple tree. It floats along the sidewalk. Su...

winter twilight ... Father stands firm in diapers He can't remember what he had for dinner but can still hear The Spring Rain W...

Lord's Prayer through cracks in a window winter moonlight A middle-aged man stands looking at the crucifix, seeing the face of ...

first kiss -- behind the bookshelf her scent lingers Her parting words scribbled in pencil on the back of a transfer ticket: El...

if you die poor and young, your poems may be worth something ... her dimpled smile After she left me for a man with a 9 to 5 job, I say to ...