Factory Body
At home, I check the tagon my rainbow shirt: made in India.The tag on my vintage-looking jeans:made in China. The tagon my boxer briefs: made in Mexico. As I walk my […]
Diet Craze
I skimmed a news headline about some scientist finding sugar in oxygen. So I’m cutting out oxygen for a year. You mustn’t worry or drag your worry to […]
Oakland Eyes
Remember when a gun got found in a kid’s backpack at our daughter’s elementary school. As soon as she breathed back home, I sped over to feel her heartbeat […]
You Step into an Oakland Day
You Step into an Oakland Day down neighborhood sidewalks cracked by finger roots. Down MLK Way across from Marcus Books, you breach MLK Cafe, buy your regular […]
New Roommate
“Who are you?” I yelled at a woodpecker pecking a bedroom nest in my one-bedroom apartment. “Are you Alder?” the woodpecker chatters back. “Yes. This is my Oakland apartment.” “Well […]
Voiceless
“How are you, Clementine?” “—.” “Why can’t you talk?” Clementine opens her mouth to reveal a frog in her throat. “Why is there a frog in your throat?” Clementine […]
Birth Head
Through her delivery room screams, Luna pushed out wailing life. While my genetic shadow had two human arms and two human legs, a lettuce head sat on top of […]
Cemetery Run
Mary runs through the open gate of Mountain View Cemetery where gravestones envelop her sweat on a curved road. In Mountain View, she gapes upon a downtown skyline. […]
Oakland’s Bullet
When Oakland took their bullet for a walk, that runaway frame pressed caliber width into brown skin within a high-melanin neighborhood elected outsiders stamp as another ghetto. Oakland took […]