Michael Philips Poems

The 25-year reunion survey
asks where my summer
home is located
...

Don’t ask me how I am here
standing next to the pro quarterback
as he lofts one down the practice field.
There should be a vapor trail on that one
...

You can’t rely on the peace train,
always jumping the tracks
or taking the wrong one
stopping at the wrong stations
...

With mom spiraling towards death
and us standing around like actors
waiting for stage direction,
Zheng Wei went to work in the kitchen
...

When we first bought the boat
My dad was focused on the rigging
The types and locations of winches and cleats
The sizes of the genoas and spinnakers
...

I’m lashed to the waterwheel
of a Mississippi riverboat,
My lover, my friends, my family
are up on the riverbank waving
...

I.
I told him something has to give way sooner or later in your life.
It may be you,
your company,
...

Ever since the time
in the maternity ward
when Marion Dixon,
thinking you were her baby,
...

The time was almost right
for the recitation of a poem
when the judge asked me
if I had anything to say before sentencing.
...

The bike trail is special
because it does not follow the road
It follows the creek
I ride over wooden bridges,
...