Empty foundation

Lake Harriet

 The vacant wall before the untaught three year old exposes how endless her options are to fill it. 

Afterlife

Rose Gardens

 Two roses competed for water until there was only enough left to sustain one.  The man of the garden called it a day and whispered that he would be waiting to show her the way.  

Hiding in the garage

South Minneapolis

 

 Where defector house cats hide to misplace their search party; where jumping spiders hunt in patches of sunshine; where fallen leaves accumulate until they’re dissolved by snowstorms; is where exhausted stuffed rabbits and insecure chairs linger clutching onto some obvious future value. 

Air conditioner

Washington Heights

 The metal box teetering through my playroom's wall cranks its magical parts and converts the dry, city heat into a winter wind, goose-bumping my bare calves. 

Streetlight

Washington Heights

 I labored on the assembly line that created these lampposts. After a fifty-five cents pay for the shift, a misguided detour took me home along the shadowy Hudson. I wondered how the cobblestone avenue would appear under the soon arriving nightlights. 

Not suitable for adults

Lake street store

 The play horse fulfilled its responsibility by creating an early childhood of pleasing memories. At age 7, Stephanie no longer giggled in the saddle, stating that “it is for babies.” It was donated and the horse has now unwillingly retired to decorate a store window.

Hold still

Minneapolis lake

 Harriet waters struggle to remain motionless, wishing to not be tickled by the leafy bough. 

Bad Memories

South Minneapolis

 A deeply hidden memory cascades into his consciousness, staining a meditative moment. 

 

Disappointing door

Bridge over 94

 Back in ’05, a boy crept around this graffiti stained bridge coming upon a door. The hinge-less piece of wood looked like it could take him somewhere and even advertised itself as being “supernatural”. Pulling the doorknob hole towards his left, he saw there wasn’t a new world to discover. What was behind the intriguing door was only the bridge wall covered in sloppy obscenities.

 

Fishy weeds

Lake Harriet

 

Dear citizen,

These foamy green skyscrapers provide many food markets, play areas, and living quarters for perch of this lake. Eminent domain is being applied to develop a waterway for canoes. Please sign our petition so we can remain in our homes.

Thank you,

Percy Perch

Cat reflection

South Minneapolis

 Cat spends her waking hours craving the freedom of Bird. The paper insulated walls entrap Cat, while Bird is only imprisoned by his inability to soar past the exosphere. But in the back of Cat’s envy, she knows the walls bring her safety and with Bird’s freedom comes many dangers. 

Pre-war construction

Washington Heights

 One of the heavy marble steps squirms as you add more weight to its tired structure. The weighty stone slab wiggles width-wise, making you wonder if it will give up and drop your body to the staircase below. 

Daily touches

South Minneapolis

 What hasn’t she touched? Resilient Venezuelan weeds didn’t stand a chance against her tugging. With a delicate wipe of a child’s peachy cheek, she made tears vanish. Her hand was seized as a man led her to safety during a sudden storm. Toilet paper in her hand was the last sight a juicy spider faced. But of everything, she has applied her finger to the smooth shutter button of her camera most regularly. 

No sprinkles please

Billy's bakery

 The eggs and flour interview for the job and are hired. The eggs, crack-free, are taken home; the flour, its deepest white, poured into a bowl. Creamed butter and sugar suit up the cakes, just for the big day, your birthday.

Happy Birthday Stephen!

Fleeing light

Uptown Minneapolis

 The light can no longer be patient. It escapes the stumbling speed of the car and soars at its own radiant pace. 

Pink flowers

My nightstand

 For fifteen hours a day, during the month of May, sunlight feeds the growing buds. Each day, the sun floats through the garden, admiring the new beauties that have awakened. 

Night View

The Heights

 The husky bridge is on duty at all times. No rest or shift changes. Hour after hour, year after year, it shoves warm engines across the athletic river.

El fuego nuevo

Ninja New York Restaurant

 The whispering fires that ate kindling for fifty-two years are suffocated. Atop the mountain, a man’s heart is severed from a gushing aorta. In the blood-flooded hole, a new fire is started. Men with torches spread the blaze to every dark dwelling, illuminating the empire once again. The families are calmed knowing that the long rays of the fifth sun would be pleased and lighten their land once again tomorrow.  

Colorful trains

94W

 Amos tours senselessly with the train through a gray-colored, industrial Minnesota. He hopes one day his roaming will cart him to a palm-infested South Carolina. A long time cohort, Static, enlightens him of a track that floats along a silenced beach. As the ocean swells with envy of his artificial, from-the-can blues, Amos will long to be as natural as the ocean. 

Resting butterfly

Peace Garden

  

 He can only focus on the beauty in front of him; the rest of the world is of no importance. Her brilliant orange freckles, her soft presence, and her distinct scent of lilacs all make her mesmerizing. He engages in the customary activities of laboring, consuming, slumbering, but desires she be his existence. To hold her without end in his wings, no richer would he be.  

September 2:07 am

Lake Harriet

 The boats twirl passively in circles, trapped to the floor of the lake.  After years of this life, like ponies of a carnival ride, they succumb to the imprisonment.  There are no protests, no whinnies.  The hopeless silence establishes their eternity as slaves. 

Water bottle

Hiawatha

 

 She promises they will reunite here, in the familiar rock-laden terrain where their forever started. The plan is to run away together. He waits twenty one days, nervously with sweats, hoping she's just running a little late.

DUFPO (Down under the Ford Parkway overpass)

St. Paul

 Clouds formed, rejecting the river of droplets. A girl twirls a delicate hand in the lifeless water and her kindness bleeds energy back into the unconscious being. Spirit flutters across the surface in ripples, resuscitating the depressed molecules. 

Lip stain

Minneapolis kitchen

 Harlot lipstick should not be donned while drinking from coffee cups or a wine glass. The stain survives the industrial dishwasher and is reapplied to the next patron's innocent lips.

Minnehaha shed

Near 54th and Xerxes

 

 The knee-deep Minnehaha Creek strolls around Minneapolis, cascading fifty feet into the sprinting Mississippi. Along its journey, it is surrounded by homes hugging the clear water, some whose luscious backyards trip into the lazily moving stream.