I am profoundly grateful to my wife, Christina, for her divine tolerance and love, to my father Gary for my ability to think, to my mother Randi for my vocation, to Ron, the closest thing I’ve ever had to a mentor, to Don (for telling me that I was a writer), to my Companion (old friend, I am always your Lovely Assistant), to Firebird, the fool-lover, great conflagrated listener (I am the shadow of your light), and finally, to Marley the Dog (for so much inspiration, you who lick all the plates where the soul food was served).

Versions of “Revolt among the Cabbage Heads” and “Polka for the Recently Exhumed” previously appeared in The Iowa Review.