Historical Fiction
-
late winter
late winterthe night that lives these months with meat dusk it beganto return through gaps between timbersthrough cracks in the mudded wallsi began to shiver like an aging manfaded to blindearly summerthe day that’s cometo live these months with me i wanted her to be my lover warm and radianti wanted to ask if she’dclosed Continue reading
-
the candelabra
the candelabrathat’s always on the table whereby goose featherby the changes from the daylight to the lighting of the candles you writethe changes from the greek to the germanwrite by candlelightfor every table in the empirefor the light of every candlea bible Continue reading
-
when you’ve pushed down on the floor with both feet
when you’ve pushed down on the floor with both feetunbent yourself at both knees at both hip joints unbowedwhen you’ve stood upright to begin beside your beduncrook yourself at both elbows at both wrists uncurlin your hand the candlestub in the candlestickthe flame you created the fire lower itshow yourself your light your feet your Continue reading
-
say you carried your candlelight
say you carried your candlelightat mid day meal tomorrowtell yunger yours was the window into the dark the cave dark inside of the predawn lined with velvet black velvetsay you know the hand that carries the nightcarried the dying of the fire in the fireplace and the firelightin the windows of the duke’s manor house Continue reading
-
when the story in the book
when the story in the bookbefore the first verse in genesis is staged in your room and you are blindstrike flint on steelspurt sparks into your charcloth saturatethe rag with fireglowthe candle wick dippedin embers the creation of candlelight Continue reading
-
when you wake
when you wakeblind as you do at every dusk of nightin the hours before sight dimsinto your room through the windowin your dormitory in every cellin every feather filled bag of bed your friendsclassmates peers with their hands feelfind the tinderbox you took to your bedand the short thread in tallow dippedand dipped a hundred Continue reading
-
tomorrow when the sun is still in its seed
tomorrow when the sun is still in its seedbefore the seed cracks and the first lightsprouts then spreads like a sudden vinetoward dusseldorf and cologne tomorrowremain blind as a mole ratthough the voice of the nightjarrestores your hearing and the song of the robin cures your senses remain blinddusk yourself back into dreamdusk yourself deaf Continue reading
-
when they cease to be your friends
when they cease to be your friendsit begins when they wake your daily companions the changebegins one morning the firstmorning after the annual season returns they waketheir lives dressed in silks and velvets embroideries abandoned and in their sleep smocks and in the woolen breeches of workers they go out of their roomswhen the oat Continue reading
-
the prince’s mother
the prince’s motherthe elector’s widowjohann of brandenberg who’sappointed regent over saxonyhe adores herand his adoration tolerateswhat proclamations she issues from dresden Continue reading
-
you learn solitude
you learn solitudeyour classmates all are like older unclesi haven’t read anywhere that the soul has shutters that swing open nor have i heard anywherethat it has doorsyour peers when they strolluphill the street to market squaredown lane through the meadowwhen they wade from the grassshores of the elbe into the shallowswhen the light of Continue reading
About Me
I have a day.
Jake's Flea Market 