Long Chilies Poems

I went fishing with my brother Ron, and a bloke named Tommy Grace.
We had camped along the Tarago where we could fish on Harvey's place.
Ron brought along his rabbit traps; he don't like fishing much...

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I know I've been to Chicago,
     But I only remember the snow.
I know that I've been to Albuquerque,
     but I mostly just remember the hot marketplace
 ...

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The ABCs of Things Green

Algae, alligator, artichoke, asparagus, aphids, Andradite,
Brussels sprouts, broccoli, Buffalo Treehopper, and beans,
Cuckoo Wasp, Cabbage, cucumber, Common Green Darner, and celery 
Dog Day Cicada, Delphinium flowers diopside and dioptase, (rocks),
Emeralds, eyes, endive,...

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In that season when the wind blew 
A love note, remains timeless and still
A conversation of close-knit tone began
And abideth like day and night till...
We, two beings, entwined in spirit
Have the pleasure of owning the...

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Many come to live out their dreams
In the city of the golden gate.
Here the people are bright
And always calm in state. 

Many fade into each other
As blending paint colors do.
Very few stand out so clear
With...

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In the middle of a Thai hot summer, we ventured
into the high hills of North Thailand.
We were medics, a small out-reach team
serving the scattered rural villages
of that remote area.

Klauss, a dour civic engineer, by his...

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woman, oh woman
even after your
constant, daily
treatment of abuse
I demonstrated
I could have been
your karate kid.

In your defense
did I not impulsively
stand tall between
two warring giants
me, a whippet of a kid
arms outstretched
like sabre swords
pleading don't hurt
her....
taking blows
meant for...

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ANNA MILLER’S TAKANAWA-SHOP

Merriam-Webster defines chili as a thick sauce of meat and chilies.

His coworker hungers
for American food - pizza, burgers;
no sushi, please.

Home away from home in the belly
of Tokyo, my husband orders —

“I’ll have the...

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We think them plentiful, like jumping shrimp and tiny crabs:
These mak hung, these chilies, the base for padaek.
The mouth waters with even a mention.

Every heart of Laos knows it well.
Cross oceans and mountains, battlefield and...

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Boophilus microplus (Canestrini)
I like the way you tightly hold on your prey
This is your sure way that never sways away
The bond between you two…
It’s tight and tighter at two
It’s even tightest without light
Coz you are...

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An hour before dawn,
the market people arrive
then settle like resting birds
beside the Ping river.

Girls squat over large straw hats,
hats brimful of dried chilies
or small freshwater fish.
They lay down bamboo mats
laden with okra, aubergines, mangosteens
and rambutan.

They...

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An hour before dawn,
the market people arrive
then settle like nestling birds
beside the Ping river.

Girls squat over large straw hats,
hats brimful of dried chilies
or small freshwater fish.
They lay down bamboo mats
laden with okra, aubergines, mangosteens
and rambutan.

They...

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Is it to lubricate and protect my eyes from your flow?
Or do you intend to bring out my joy, sorrow, and rage?
By your stream-like flow to others, you show my grief, I know.
A parrot in...

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Flowers cream and violet to brighten the pale summer
Bleached out houses against painted green lawns
Vanilla beans from Madagascar stiffen and crumble
Kitchen heating up with Peruvian songs
Dandelion soup for dinner, picked from the patch in the...

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Goes in hot. Comes out hot.
But this may be more than the casual student
Will want to know.

Mom’s grinding chilies for me in Modesto.
Red, green, a dash of fresh cilantro,
Fermented shrimp sauce and a pinch of...

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When I think of you dear
My thoughts go back a ways
When we were there together
Back in our younger days

You loved your Albuquerque
The enchantment it fulfills
From down along the Rio
Up to the Northeast hills
And the lofty...

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Are you yearning for me, dear?
Does our departure kill you too?
The environs look so blear,
Midst summer, in my eyes, there's dew...!

You might not feel it within,
There's a blazing fire in me; 
In my flesh and...

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Albuquerque
You loved your Albuquerque
The enchantment it fulfills
From down along the Rio
Up to the Northeast hills
And the lofty Sandia Mountains
With their watermelon hue
But when I think of Albuquerque
I’m thinking dear of you

I could have stayed in...

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I can’t say
where life begins
and death takes over:

Oh! I know of birth
and funerals--
what the church says
and what my gut
further tells me…

but my heart often
wanders above wings,
parting shadows
to a place alone
where I encounter
a loving presence
my feeling...

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Green Salad and white Carpet 
Red Chilies and Black magic 
Falling Rain the vibgayar 
What is this? Absurdity?

Blind Eyes Blind Heart
Black Tea and again black magic
Tea spoon, sugar for an ant 
Cane for an Elephant
What...

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A latino zone in the base of North America
having an injured past honourably graced by two peasants
known to be the most populated in the Spanish world
but suffers a massive exodus to his neighbor above.

He looks...

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madhouse of a ménage à trois —
the bawdy chamber of the blitz,
where three depraved darlings conspired in pagan rituals,
their lover's lament a discordant dirge amidst,
detritus of a bygone era,
a winter's eve of wreathed blossoms and...

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Mistress of deception,
as in victual monogamy.
A deceit of one’s perception,
without an irksome homily.

Mushrooms drop into a pot,
with peppers, once pureed.
Zucchini dance as they are tossed
amidst confetti of celery seed.

Onions sing out with Garlic,
part of the...

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They are not from Chiang Mai,
they are a tribal people
who speak a hill language.
They ride through the night
on bicycles to settle at dawn
beside the Ping River.

Girls' unroll rattan mats
squat beside straw hats brimful
with the tang...

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The restaurant was Vietnamese
And so, for its clients to please,
On each table there sat
Bottles filled with sauce that
Would make someone like me start to sneeze.

For some cultures like heat in their food
Thus for zestiness, they...

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