“Precarianism” is scheduled to appear in the San Antonio Review in 2026

Failed Poet
“Precarianism” is scheduled to appear in the San Antonio Review in 2026

“Octocapitulants” appeared on the San Antonio Review social media feed in 2025

I had a work-colleague,
the Head System Programmer,
who told a story
at the work-cafeteria-lunch-table
where we gathered by agreement,
to commiserate complaints and tell war-stories
His story one day was about his son,
who had some dispute with a car-dealer,
resolved unsatisfactorily,
so, he told us with chest-swelling-pride,
the kid drove down there one night
and blew the front display window of the dealership
out with a blast from a double-barreled-shotgun
This was in Texas, of course,
so the reception of his story by his audience
was leg-slapping, horse-laughing, braying approval
I, uh, I . . .
Some short time from that, one morning,
my colleague was absent from work –
Where is he?
In hushed tones we were told
that on the night before
his son had detected car-burglars near his pickup
and ran out with his trusty shotgun to settle hash
and in the scuffle was killed with his own weapon
Everyone-in-the-office was expected
to attend the funeral,
to view the open casket,
offer condolences,
avoid any lesson-learning, moral-giving, told-ya-so’s,
and I did that much