Subnotae, Vol. I

poems written in passing

This series convenes poems — first composed as Substack notes — in response to the ideas, images, and provocations circulating among the platform’s writers and visual artists.

I hope here they’ll assume a more deliberate form: fragments registering my poetic motion, perception, and dialogues of literary exchange.

Scribbles

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           A Sub-stack 
            submerge
     sublimate  subrosa
  subjunctive  subaudible  subsist
subtilize  subfloor  submersion
  subfusc  subterranean  subdivide
     subsidiary  subtext  subroutine
        subscript  substation
           subzero

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12.08.25

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overdue
overdo
  over dew

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01.15.26

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Haiku

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babies write haikus 
on high chairs in applesauce 
testcross Parnassus  

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01.08.26

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Do not fall tonight—
moth-winged vice flitting sinew,
walnut split necrose

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01.13.26

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I cherish you all  
but one more haiku today  
and lobes  
     will  
          hemorrhage

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01.13.26

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announcing time off 
Substack is weird. I’ll Irish
g’bye you in haiku 

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01.23.26

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Ekphrasis

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Chill writes in sixes 
  in six steady hands
repeats decisions made at center:
 temperature, pressure, time—
  a record of air, born to collapse
   on impact.

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12.08.25

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Crystallofolia 

hoarfrost sutures needles

by adhesion,
not will

rime tensile as polymers

xylem mired
sap vitrified

from dormant cambium

ochre tufts breach
crust, like papilla

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12.23.25

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Solstice 
light reaches perigee of absence
photons waver, return—
an axial mercy
by fractions only patience discerns

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12.22.25

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hygge 

pastel
townhome‑pupa

quadrilateral
chrysalide

gables in
kanaler double

lattice
unravel
like
polyamide

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01.04.26

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ruby-throated
green comma
hovers at bleeding heart
bill to corolla,
combing nectar
anthers dusting gorget
eighty-beat seconds,
high-voltage hymnal
on the sill, a notched
mug warm enough
to still be yours

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01.05.26

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Mélusine
Gadwalls quarter everted brink
culmen to culmen, tarsus to talus
Her silhouette—Salcedo’s negative space,
Vermeer’s pupil, vein-limned calyx,
Chiaroscuro framed in white

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01.12.26

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Rörelse
filaments
  writhe
    in loam
fen
  sediment
fog
  fissure
flensing
  bone-dry
    husked
      dragonfly
        nymph
mist
    sieves
      sphagnum
mica-wink
         in
    pericarp
      plica
cattail
  spires
    scraping
gold-patina,
  amphibian 
mask

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01.22.26

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8 phases in 8 phrases
I    Crescent         — 3° luminous, terminator acute
II   Waxing    — 23°  bulge, simulacrum compressed
III  First Quarter    — 50%, planar rive
IV   Gibbous          — 78%, convex camber
V    Full           — 100%, albedo zenith, isotropic gilt
VI   Waning Gibbous   — 82%, kinetic decay
VII  Last Quarter     — 50%, rendered hemicycle
VIII Crescent         — 7°, vestigial quantum spatter

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01.16.26

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Suffering

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          Both Ends 

            **BIC**
         **wick**
      **flicker**
            **flare**
               |
            forty hour
            corporate
            jargon

            iterative
            deck
            approval

            verbs
            furbished

            *flame*
            *downward*

            invoice
            inbox

            kop
            for hire
            —
            when I’m quiet
            I’m not empty
            —
            muteness
            means
            mutability

            mouthfuls
            of labor
            —
            after hours
            second wick

            covert
            combust

            pro bono
            paean

            similia
            tallow

            *flame*
            *upward*

            georgics
            smolder

            shunning
            slumber
               |
            **BIC**
         **wick**
      **flicker**
            **flare**

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01.29.26

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