112721b

the nutshell boys
scull to your window
slip underneath the sash

make sure your cover’s
up, your candle’s out
your sleeping cap on tight

I send you them
to keep you safe
while I am far away

rest easy darling
till the day of my return
all Faerie guards your door

010121b

 

one step

then another

into the whispering wood 

shadows move, you think

behind the farthest trees

they are phantoms, perhaps

that live only in your eyes

091320c

 

yesterday

the cat left me a brownie

now I have to clean

 

031120b

half-elven girl

working the cash register

in her mom’s shop

last gas or coffee

this side of the Blessed Realm

082719

Faerie's burbs are full

of mail carriers from the borderland

who accepted lemonade or cookies

120217

Fields We Know

Faerie seeds don't thrive

this side of the Border,

faerie forbs aren't timid

seed launchers; coiled springs

kick like tiny veggie mules,

knocking into next week

all the magic and terror

of the fae forest, but our world's

a scorched earth of rusty

nails, bottle caps, and the like,

a deathtrap for our pointy-eared brethren.

The green-eyed buxom blonde

who compelled you in a dream

has withered away, her and her garden;

you can't stick a shovel in the ground

anywhere in Mundania without turning over

something that burns, oh yes, it burns, my precious,

so launch, brave seeds, launch away, but never hope,

because with all our irons in the fire,

germination isn't an option.

041417b

icemaker back from the dead
small miracles
thanks to the Winter Queen

040916b

The Little Painted Gate

But the longer they spent

in that enchanted land,

the farther they wandered

amid narcotic blooms

and doe-eyed creatures

out of well-remembered legends,

the more bread crumbs

they dropped behind them,

all of which were swallowed

by small and timid things,

the fainter their memories

became of Mother, Father,

their own dear home,

and the Sisters at School,

until, blank slates, the children

were overwritten by that place,

becoming its creatures,

living in the moment,

large-eyed and lost to time.

010814

The new Star*line is inspiring, as usual


Under the air ducts I met a troll


best I could do
apologetically
I hope you build bridges on New Earth
or whate'er you name it
that's a long wait--centuries
she shrugged
I pass the time
want to see my fungi?
don't you eat little girls?
vegetarian.
keep thinking and you're safe
I'll visit