the bastards
He speaks about it with so much precision listeners suspect he is confessing rather than observing, even though he is only reporting what he witnessed over years on the road […]
woman w guitar
She lifts the guitar a second breathits wooden curve familiar as handstrings hold maps of years, love, deatheach fret she’s learned to understand Her fingers press where memory residesnot thinking […]
small trespasses
They begin as small trespassesa voice leaning closer than speech,a chord that admits what the mouth won’t.Love songs promise forever in borrowed light,folding ordinary days into something luminous,teaching the heart […]
synth
It began as a perfectly respectable synthesizer. Oscillators, filters, envelopes. Knobs that did what they were told. A panel that rewarded intention with predictable consequence. It lived in a studio […]
haiku
Sharp chords in the darkdrums pulse like a warning heartsilence looks away
short people
He took songs literally. This was not a flaw he recognized as such. It felt like honesty. If a lyric said something, he believed the lyric. If a song declared […]
buckets
Inside the theatre, the touring acts had lighting plots, riders, and fees that could cover rent for a month. Outside, he had plastic, a pair of sticks, and a spot […]
song i used to love
Songs I used to lovenow echo like wrong answersmy ears turn away
reliable job
He didn’t quit the trumpet in a dramatic way. No last note held into the ceiling. He just started answering different emails. There was a job. Reliable, which is a […]
defense
He didn’t take revenge. That would have been obvious. The fantasy version where the past is exposed under academic lighting. He imagined those versions. Anyone would. Jill sat in the […]