My poem “Alchemericana” appears alongside another of my poems, “Little Cause,” in the latest issue of THINK magazine, Winter/Spring 2022, volume 12.1. Many thanks to the editors for selecting the poems, and special thanks to Alicia Stallings for coining the title “Alchemericana” as a misreading in an e-mail exchange. For more information about this excellent poetry magazine or to subscribe, please visit THINK.

He’s shipwrecked far from realms he knew, a king
Abandoned in winter, promised rescue,
Breathing turned-earth gusts of manure
Poured from far-off fields still fallow in spring.

The winds bring back old moods he’d hoped were gone,
Cartographic mayhem of newfound shores
That seemed to move each night, slow palms at dawn,
Hot stones, the gathering sun, the lick of oars.

Once back inside he wonders if you set
Aside thoughts of him, searches the icebox,
Finds a foggy Ziplock bag with broken blocks
Of Dino Chicken behind a Hot Pocket—

Crystal-crusted in their plastic cavern.
Shaken out, a single ice-rock lump hits
The bowl. It slips apart and starts to sweat,
Soaking microwaveable light each turn.

Behold: a feast, dumped over steaming
Intestines, a bed of boiled Ramen,
The last packet in the cupboard. Well then,
Much better. A stranded lord is dreaming

Of what must vanish, slow down, diminish;
Of lives—once planned far out ahead—now blurred,
Of shapes in failing sight, a word once slurred,
Of a fall day he will not live to finish.