Ocean Beach, San Francisco
Silicon Valley
Sloane’s Graduation
Burgess Falls State Park, Tennessee
The Buses of Baxter, Tennessee
Shelby Bottoms Railroad Bridge
Sloane and her Graduation Crew
By the Pool
sunken ground, watery
blue, it whirls
with summer sun
dug into the
dirt and rocks
pushed aside for
me to be
here surrounded by
ants and trees
bees and breeze
on my perch
like a dragonfly
watching the earth
Avoidance
no, not the
details, foreheads trickling
blood of children
and i’ve seen
this before in
israel and gaza
the photos and
headlines, hopeless
but then i
turn off my
phone and it
all just disappears
and i think
about the basketball
playoff game instead
Daniel W. Polk 