Jake's Flea Market

it never comes out the way it went in


  • the hour that lethbridge was

    the hour that lethbridge wasthen was an hour half of what the city now isan hour more sparsely constructed populatedan hour that was one of many in the province of the hour of albertain which a few hours werebigger like the hours of calgary edmontonbut all were like the smaller hours that wererooms in the…

  • with this hand i reached

    with this hand i reachedout the window and releasedthe raven who flew and foundcarcasses afloatupon the apocalypse of flood and fedand never returnedand with this same hand i reached out the same window and releasedthree times released the dove who flew and foundnothing and returnedflew and found an olive leaf and returnedflew and found an…

  • and we lay down in almost heaven

    and we lay down in almost heavenand we lay down on the grass the longlush grass of europemoved our legs leftleg like this to the left rightleg like this to the right andmoved them back againswungour arms from our sides like thisup over our heads and moved them back againwe lay down in the shapes…

  • snowflakes

    snowflakesthey fall most white in the darkest hourfootstepsthey ring loudest in the most silent momentthe street is desertedmovement is most noticed when nothing movesthere’s a car comingit’s been driven around the block all nightit’s been driven around the block for a thousand nightsthe driverdrives in all directionsdrives between shrines of devotiondrives in the circling and…

  • it’s may

    About twenty years ago, I sat for a few minutes one morning and jotted down a list of things that I became aware of — sights. sounds, and smells especially. I arranged those images into a structure of sorts. In the years since, I’ve come back to this from time to time: And each time…

  • manny carpenter tosses us

    manny carpenter tosses uswewho were capturedinto a legal system by compressorcrowdedinto the tanklike saturday night drunksmeasuredin pounds per square inchwe weighwhat air weighswe were sentencedto incarcerationin basketballtransportedby hose injectedwith a needle through a valvein admissionand here we arewe are legionit’s our numberthat makes the room roundso round the ceilingis the wall and the wall is…

  • i never thought as I carried her over the threshold

    i never thought as i carried her over the thresholdthat the october wind would blowthis cold and this continuous through the wallfrom around the window frame in the wallit blows down on where the child’ll sleepblows the pilot light in the gasfurnace out and this with cold comingback in augustwe’d planned to put a crib…

  • the house

    the house sways and the wind blows and calms and blows and changes direction you rise from your bed and mom rises from beside you and me and mel and alice rise we don’t talk while you dress we don’t talk while you eat we don’t talk when you turn and smile and wave your…

  • before blondes before brunettes before redheads came

    before blondes before brunettes before redheads cameto this country werethere deerskin robes with fringes and beads and bells wornby women who faced the fire orangecrack of light at day risein a season between leaf bud and leaf fall were there women who faced the fire orangecrack of light that dividedthe dark sky from the darker…

  • snow coils in the street

    snow coils in the streetdrift of pale anacondaair squeezed out of tires