Greetings Dear Friend!

My Beloved in Christ, 
I Have a Business Proposal
for you. Permit me to share
with you, my desire to go into
a Godly business partnership with you.

Why won’t the weight come off?

I wanted to reach out personally.
Don’t worry, there’s no bad news!
In fact, I’m hoping this will
motivate you to get started 
with your personal wellness
journey sooner. First of all,
I got you a 79% discount!
But why did I do it?

Claim Your BOGO Free!

Beloved I apologize for contacting you
through this means for an important offer,
how are you & your family over there?

Buenos dias querido, recibiste mi email?

I am contacting you
because the recent report
from my Doctor told me that
I have some weeks to live
due to cardiac & kidney failure
problem, having known my condition
I seek your permission
to present you to the bank
as my late husband foreign investors
to retrieve the fund ($15,000,000)
& utilize for establishing orphanages home
for the poor & needy, & also
propagating the word of God
& to endeavor that the house of God
is maintained.

You’ve Been Chosen!

No one should ask you
to run 10 miles a day
or cut out your favorite foods!

But don’t take our word for it!
Take theirs!

Good Day,
Sorry for introducing on your Privacy.

Final Hours!

Urgent letter from the hospital
on a money transaction.
I am an American soldier,
Please get back to me
for more detail.

Do you Speak Engllsh?

My colleague Stephanie
just found you on Instagram
& loved your content!
Similar accounts to yours
are CRUSHING it on Instagram—
from what I’ve seen, you could be doing
even better than them!

Hey Did My Mail Find You Well?

You need to provide your full information
signifying your interest.
1. Full Name:
2. Home or Office Address:
3. Telephone Number:
4. Age:
5. Sex:
6. Occupation:
7. Marital Status:
8. Nationality:
9. A scanning copy of your passport or ID card:

Hello Dear one, 
Did you receive my previous mail???

Transform Your Skin!
It fixed my skin lickity split,
leaving me with normal skin
& a glowing complexion!

Your Payment Has Been Processed!

Please I need an honest person
who will take very good care
of this project.

7 Hours It’s Over!

Your contact was an act of God
& why I had to choose you divine
& I cannot question my God.

Sincerely,
Your Sister in Christ.

order                without
                          with no
or                      with
adding             without

start
instead              without
of                        with
add                     with
a pinch
of light

try                       with
now
lower                  with
then
below                  without
a small
amount               with

may also
be                          with
all from
before
ask                         with
more down          without

I’ve lived on Big Mountain
for almost five years. Thirty acres
of forest & tumbling rock. Song-cries

of Whip-poor-will in summer. Snowfall
brings fireplace fires with ax-chopped
wood. I prefer snuggling inside

like a just-hatched warbler. Weather fronts
drift by. Resembling a piece of pale
yellow honeydew; often the moon

swells larger at this elevation. My husband,
my divine opposite, prefers memorizing
the land. He hikes it daily — 300 trees

planted, one natural water spring found,
two Copperheads sighted. (Only God
knows the amount of ticks.) He even plants

hard-to-grow-in-Kentucky trees, like Bristlecone
Pine. The oldest one in the world, Methuselah,
is 4,854. His Bristlecone is named Aristotle

& only grows an inch a year, he’s four
inches tall now. One day I will tell you more
about the stubborn Bristlecone but this

is about our intertwining. I’m the one
who watches the news & sometimes takes
action. He’s the one who fashions walking

sticks from deadfall. I’m the one who stacks
books on side-tables like sculpture. He listens
for the quiet shuffling of bobcat, ear to the wind.

The peacock’s cry 
too close to human.
Stones that cause 
the skin to blister.
A dream of death 
yet still you wake.
Tree bent 
from wind and rain.
Trail that ends 
at a thorny gate.
One born 
from the union 
of two.

The world 
is a mysterious place.

You belong here.

Flakes of oxide green paint

once uniformly coated the oversized front porch

now swirl in corners

and line each darkened edge

up to the threshold.

She sits on porch steps

holding mulberry tree branch

Stirring shavings, separating mounts

separated by size –

managing thoughts.

Removed from the crowd inside,

the porch steps offer protection

as she reflects –

reflects on complexity,

horror,

and sweetness. 

Whitewashed slats shelter the heart

from seasonal swing

dustbowl heat of California summers,

wicked wind, and trembling rain

that follows through winter.

Her mind wanders.

Then focus’ to examine recently cleaned

no longer worn or dirty handrails –

Handrails that guide towards welcoming front stoop

and bright chartreuse mat.

Shiny new spindles

but somehow you missed – Missed coating the concrete.

we follow the sound
to an empty parking garage–
a bagpiper performing

animal jealousy against
 
thing
squealing
in the curtains
they cook for it
twice
a day
cod
insects
gourds

i want my mother
here
and
the cook is not
my mother
the thing is
not me

i know what i feel
and why
and
i still
nearly
reach out
my
fist

perennials pop 
now in progress

succulents
enjoy summer outside.

hummingbirds, bees,
butterflies

a feeding frenzy
over herbs, birds

work on
the seeds.

sage, lavender,
rosemary, thyme.

don’t forget
pretty pansies.

here the light is muted 
aching of royalty 
these new-ancient stones 
and tiled floors 
have buried old ghosts 
the prayers of a millennia
dance slowly in the dust 
a thousand amens ring out 
in silence that is disturbed 
only by the footfalls
of the passing pilgrims 
who can only wonder 
what stories these sacred walls hold 

Ruin
 
                            to Regino Sainz de la Maza

Lost
and breathing out through a coral torso
way, this way the air went!  Soon 

I knew the moon
was a horse’s skull
and the air a dark, red apple

behind the leaded panes, 
with whips and lights, I felt a fight 
of arid sands with water, saw 

leaves of grass tumble
in bales tossed to bleating lambs
lodged in their little teeth and lancets,

and the very first dove flew encased
in a dropshell 
of featherbombs and plastic.  Clouds herded, 

a wind-chafed shepherdess, 
falling asleep in the dark contemplated 
the duel of rock hills with the dawn.

My boy!  The grasses roll, come down to us, 
salivating swords that sluice through 
the thin sagging belly of the sky!

My hand, my love. The grasses!
By the broken glass inside the home
the bloody fists that undid your locks of hair

you and I, yes we alone
lay out your bones for the showing.
We two, just two, remain.

Prepare your bones.
Be quick for this, amor, be quick
and look to make our sleepless profile.

Author: Federico García Lorca
Translator: Manny Grimaldi