If

If “alignment of jaws and teeth” is set by
“use [of] cutlery during formative years,”
orthodontics is sisyphean. I’m unhappy
more than I’ll admit, but what’s to blame?

What knife and fork cut up the information
fed me, shaping my mind’s jaws and teeth
to bite misaligned, and reinforced in
misalignment by tools I’ve had to use?

Our ancestors tore food with incisors,
avoiding the overbite cut meat encourages,
that top-teeth smile regarded as beautiful.
Beauty’s shaped by what we learn to expect.

I sat in the chair, pinned there by lamplight
limning …

Bright Morning

Bright morning wakes me through

A drapeless window. Away from kids

And wife for the weekend, the bed
Is quiet, the room unpressurized,

The house airy. I miss my life
As it is …

Rincon del Mar Means “Corner of the Sea”

The swell today is sweet, bringing lines past
the point and into the cove.
Cars driven by surfers nearly crash
on the 101 as they slow. Around the bend,
unseeable …

A Quick Survey of Conditions

The concrete path goes round the house,
giving access to all its sides. In summer,
it’s white as salt, at night dulled
as under a full moon tinted slightly blue,

The Trail is a Trap

The trail is a trap the mind tells feet
to adhere to. There are ticks in the grass
thick with unseen processes rain and sun
work within it to make …