Originally published in the Aiken Standard.
Honorable Mention in the 2023 Porter Fleming Literary Competition hosted by the Morris Museum of Art. Originally published in the Aiken Standard.
Empty hands are all I have. The nothing’s all You need:in the valley of my palm, You place a mustard seed. My skin’s no soil
I’ve never been sentimentalabout items. But people: they are my memories. I kept the clutter tokeep the people but after years, every corner of my
I often try to soften Jesus—he who claims he came to set the world ablaze, set like flint, burning, burning,bearing a sword, a whip of
I read the A-frame on the curb as I passedand pictured the rainbow array of mistakesfrom every indistinguishable kind of whiteto the shade too much
Rubied roses and splattered wine, spilling sunsets, bruises, burns, fired iron and ancient rust, edge of danger, passionate love— Gentle yeses and offered palms, tight
