In an era that prefers free verse (especially lyric poems that seem casually conversational or mystically hushed), epigrams seem out of favor. Still, poets want their epigrams to be refreshingly sharp, witty, carefully crafted, efficiently brief, and curiously insightful.

Writing Workshop Guru

Writers led by an autocratic teacher
can’t sing solo, just choir to the preacher.

Published by Write. Teach.

               An Eschatologist Stacking Firewood

               The slightest fall breeze is a whispered threat.
               Winter is here, though winter’s not here yet.

Published by Asses of Parnassus

On Sending a Poem to Richard Wilbur

A house cat mouths a limp grey mouse
to drop on the porch of the hunter’s house.

Published in Plains Poetry Journal

               Beijing: The Museum of the Revolution
               is Closed For Renovation

               The top two floors reopen in three weeks,
               leased to entrepreneurs to sell antiques.

However improbable, this was true when I was there in 2000.

The counter-revolution was winning.

Published by Asses of Parnassus

The Slots at Harrah’s Casino, New Orleans

To find the winner always spewing green
look for the losers’ ATM machine.

Published by Asses of Parnassus