Capitol Cougar

The Mid-Level Donor Which one is the thieves' table? I hear there is where honor passes, Serene as I myself might be, given The pro...

The Reason You'll have to accept wondering Until it's over. Every morning, You get closer to knowing: You were here To play the...

Brass You know what shots sound like. The acorns Hitting the roof don't sound like shots at all. So why do they make you jump? This t...

For Sylvia Plath's birthday. Born in a difficult part of the year. Clear the Table Everyone looks uneasy when you say you'd like ...

Split Skin The years come down to naught but A catalog of places to avoid touching. Oh dog, stop gnawing your sore spots. You forget wh...

I veer between hysterical sobbing and grief-barfing on my friends about how everything I've written is racist-tainted worthless shit, an...

Dear one or two friends, wonderful mysterious commenter, and person looking for porn who stumbles on this blog: Got something to tell you. ...

The Empty Bottle The moment just before it's empty is dangerous. It's not just the matter of who gets the last Drink, though kni...

Bury the Silk You need to sink the silk into the muck For three full moons--every fiber must Suck in the mud to be transformed. We have...

The Yoshiwara's Daughters We've all got a child no one knows about Tucked away somewhere. In a castle, In the country, in the as...

Karakuri The builders uncovered a mound of something that looked like bones, but with an old man and some old books, we pieced it all tog...

Learning to Look Back Don’t neglect this glance in your arsenal: The strategic turn of the head to one departing Can serve to seal the ...

The Other Wave My every step is one across a sea, A sea surrounded by a moat, within Another sea. I wade and slosh and duck From broken...

Great Tenmei Famine, 1782-1788 I was sold after the locusts came. I haven't been hungry since. This time They blame the volcanoes, t...

Sea of Trees I. It's dirt in my mouth. So tired, I had to let my head fall To the floor. The dark hairline On the back of your nec...

My People, The River Nobody says who owns this sand, So I stole it, for us. No boundaries For us; every day it's a new line To cros...

Courtesans vs. Censors Who is the man who wins our tears? Not the one who can keep five wives quiet. He's the one who wears handcuf...

Abandon Charcoal dawn's approach. Start to coax A man's body away from warmth, To yawn, to stand, to walk away From a cat and a...

Bunraku Domestic Drama I hope you're prepared to devote A full day to this. It takes time For this art to unfold. Begin With a nod ...

Telescope Tell me, spyglass, what do you see? I see tiny dutchmen waving at me. I can almost hear them across the water: "Children...

Yellow Light changes color, I knew that Even before they brought me here As a child. I was tea and now I’m petal And at night I am gol...

A True Guidebook To The District Most of you are here to impress Each other, not me. We’re lazy as cats When you’re not looking. At your...

Four Seasons At The Four Seasons Spring Blossom festival Duties ended, princesses Hit the hotel bar Summer Masked men dislodge a W...

How To Walk To Hell The plum blossoms are fragrant, And the pines are lofty When did charcoal ashes turn to morning frost? This is how...

Prayer For Daruma The mist from the fountain Rises and settles In soft beauty Into the clouds And returns to us In the rain The wis...

Matoi I'm every bit as bad as any fireman-- The bell sounds and I hoist my standard, Soak my dress and fall to dash the flame, Lie ...

Love Sick I love the tile in my bath So cool against my skin, such support When I can't fall any farther Maybe National Poetry Mon...

Nothing To Fear Here is a song about creatures to fear Though it may appear they mean no harm: A tiger who howls in loneliness. An ox t...

Spring Greenery You take my tears when You leave for grief. It's envy-- You are free to go. The scholarship has caught up with t...

On the Clock A clock must be constructed with wicked precision, But the increments themselves can be sliced As thick or thin as works wi...

Lattice music, smoke, cats, piss: these may take their liberties flow the night streets as they                   please the rest ...

A Foot In The Door The first two visits, I don't even look at you. You've put out for a hell of a spread, But I don't fill y...

I was going to try to send this to a magazine, but I'm too tired. Haven't slept in a couple days. Too many work. Wrote this between ...

Crickets I. Silence has the edge. My hearing started going but I don’t get Monsters, like a real artist. Of course I think of Goya whe...

Nine of Swords In Admiration of the Professional Mourners I never remember when to kneel, Or sit, or stand, (or speak or heel) Or bow ...

Next to the Last Straw Now I have to paw through all my possessions, Now, when I finally had everything organized, I have to find someth...

Swag It is not yet solstice, but the trim Along the awning of the Best Buy is sagging. I turn on the television, Law and Order, Because ...

Isn't that a town in Sweden? Or perhaps a kind of vodka. Anyway, a lovely young woman inspired me to write a poem. Zero to Fifty I ta...

Like Nigel Tufnel says, D Minor is the saddest of all keys, one that tends to make people cry instantly when they hear it. This is, like, a ...

And now for something completely different in style. Any reference to any living person named Ken is not intended. Was listening to a bit of...

Navigating by the Stones I realize, halfway up the washed pebbles Of this slippery slope, that I don't want to go Back down the way ...

Inquiry Images: It doesn't hurt. Halfway thru this month, I was diagnosed with a skin condition called dermographism. ...

Jongleur The purpose of the artist is to make beauty Real to us. The artist needs to be granted peace And food and drink. We should all...

Sanctuary The purpose of the cathedral is to have a place to safely Contemplate. You need enough room to assemble, a vantage Point, creat...

Observatory The purpose of the castle is to have a place to survive A siege. You need a high vantage point, a way To get goods in, and a...

"A professional model is like a stuffed owl. These girls are alive." --Henri de Toulouse Lautrec on women in brothels Pink Citi...