We walk there to escape the heator the pall of ourcoffined lives. We are a rag-tag lot,from the lithe, pony-tailed womanwho waves as she whizzes past me, to seniors with walkers and trekking poles,stepping cautiously towardwhatever future awaits, big families sprawled across the aisles,briefly trying to hold it all togetheragainst the forces spinning them apart, […]
The Burping Seal A lone Tupperware with sky blue lid, it lives on in my kitchen, a reminderof all it once held—loving leftovers of Mom’s greasy kugel or kielbasa,mincemeat cookies, coleslaw or apple pie. Its skin is worn soft from fifty yearsof washing and handling. Back and forthit went from her place to mine. I
I stare at the photographof a bare-chested 18-year-oldtrying to look brutish,crouching as ifready to pounce,projecting his masculinitylest the image fade. Our cells are no longer the same,but he still lives inside me,staring out fromhis secret chamber,where in one corneris a small tablewhere he praysand gazes upwardat Jesus in agony—a votive candle flickers. What would we
Into the pregnant night the female moth sends her subtle seductive scent to some unsuspecting male moth and I wonder what crazy pictures form in his little brain. First published in Minnow Literary Magazine Spring 2022 https://minnowliterarymagazine.files.wordpress.com/2023/02/minnow-spring-2022-1.pdf
My new poem “The Woman in the Window” was just published in the Winter 2023 issue of Sky Island Journal. You can read it here https://www.skyislandjournal.com/issues#/issue-23-winter-2023/
The Woman in the Window Read More »
I am excited to announce that I’ve been invited to perform an in-person reading (my first in three years!) from my new collection Shopping Cart Dreams. This live event will be at Woods Memorial Library in Tucson (3455 N. First Ave.) on Saturday, June 25, at 2 p.m. My reading will be 40-45 minutes, then open
Shopping Cart Dreams – Live! Read More »
Here are two more reviews of my newest poetry collection Shopping Cart Dreams. “Gene’s craft is so airtight his poetry seems to effortlessly reveal the deeper truths that we thirst for, and they contain a gravity that our hearts simply cannot escape. He creates a complicated view of our existence, and we love how this fully engages
Advance Reviews for Shopping Cart Dreams Read More »
I am pleased to annouce that my fourth poetry book Shopping Cart Dreams has just been published by Kelsay Books. A full-length collection offering an eclectic range of poems ranging from serious to quirky and absurd, this is my most ambitious work yet. Though mostly free verse, it includes a number of prose, ekphrastic, and
Shopping Cart Dreams: Available Now Read More »
An author signs a bookto affirm the life within.Written in subconscious code,it is the soul’s imprimatur. Note the perfectly formed lettersin Virginia Woolf’s signature, wholly legibleas if meant to show a balanced soulnever at war with itself. What complexities lurk in the signatureof Edgar Allan Poe, who adorned his letterswith loops and dots, underlined beneathlike
Working on My Signature Read More »