Originally posted 2/11/2012.

the distraught parents
don’t know what to do

their children
have fallen in love
with dust storms

they reach for a bible story
with which to chastise them

god is coming soon
come in out of the grit

but the kids
otherwise enthralled
aren’t waiting for a tardy god

they start a faith
based on watching the wind
bore holes in rock

with a gospel
of how sand
gets into everything
without trying

Originally posted 3/31/2011. Original title, “Chastisement.”

First time you noticed
that brass smells of dirty fingers and ozone
was the day you learned your mother had died.

The keys were in the hand
you bunched up to your face
upon hearing the news.

You could smell and taste them
mingled with tears and dust from the oak table
upon which you laid your head to weep.

These days you dust the furniture frequently
and whenever you handle your keys
you wash your hands right after.

It’s been years
since you thought about
that day.