Publisher: Pudding House Publications
Year: 2007

This chapbook is no longer available, as the publisher has ceased operations. My first chapbook, Lonesome was titled after a word my grandmother used to employ now and again. She never said "lonely," only "lonesome," and I always got the sense the emotional gulf between these two words was vast. I also saw "lonesome" as a bit archaic. No one says it anymore; or, rather, I don't hear it said anymore. My grandmother's language is long gone, as is my grandmother herself. But not before I had a chance to dedicate this chapbook to her (and my mother) and watch her scratch her head over its strange, elusive contents.  Below is a poem from the collection:

                    
                        THE MAN WHO COMES TO VISIT

1.
Three butterflies flying together
Will bring good luck, though if any of their wings
Touch, the moon will fall on your lover’s house.
2.
Three seagulls flying together means imminent death,
Though if any of their feet touch waves, your lover
Will be out of the house when the moon crashes in.
3.
Dropping a fork means a man will come to visit.
When the man comes he will say he’s your father
And offer you cut rate lessons in stoicism and logic.
4.
Dreaming of acorns foretells pleasant things.  But the man
Who visits when you drop your fork will tell you to spurn
Your dreams like he did his love, and not to bother with the moon. 

 --Appeared originally in Boxcar Poetry Review