Peter Meinke

The ball arches toward its apogee from the far court, rising to the left of the afternoon sun in a sky so cloudless it looks plastic. I try to concentrate on its passage and it seems to me for a moment I can read the green letters, PENN 7, against th [...]

          for Schwartz, Lowell, Berryman Perhaps their eyes flooded and closed because our water, earth, and air are so impure that only drowning, with its blinding kiss, can clean us to the bone. The flesh sinks in temptation and disease; [...]

for Paul Van Dongen The North Star beams us cleanly down the Patuxent into the waiting mouth of Chesapeake Bay, past Sandgates on starboard, Sollers on port, with a crescent moon rocking us toward day. In the engine room there are 15 dials to watch; [...]

Hannah Broch didn't like the way her husband dressed, drank, drove, walked, talked, cleared his throat, made love (too noisy) or water (likewise). In the morning he'd try to fold his pajamas but they always looked like a lump. His belly was large a [...]