“All my friends have their gods & their heavens / & their plans on how to get there.”

“We were never a family of food snobs.”

“Whatever part of Tehran / I place a hand on, it is aching.”

“After the box wine, the chicken thighs, and Nancy’s spice cake, / we lounged around talking of poetry, manure, and flowers.”

“how starkly clear you hear them gnawing / at the wood of lawn chairs near the awning.”

“Oh, / thing, poor thing, little thing, thing thinging, thing is / a beautiful mess.”

“Only some of me / is here on Earth.”