“What are you reading?” she asked,
from behind an orange mask.
In the past, I would have smiled,
responded cordially about this book,
only this pandemic has changed me.
My intolerance has grown, like
an overdue tumor on the side of my neck.
The man who spread next to me
on the flight to Houston. He wore
flip-flops and pushed his way
into the middle seat. Near the aisle,
I grew smaller. His legs opened further.
“You asked for it,” they said.
You direct my eyes
to the yellow door of the bookshop.
Help me when I ask. Don’t just pull me …
after Tommye Blount’s ‘The Suit’
Rookie, this shift blows–still, wear your tie, though
in time you’ll goddamn the Southside. Lord knows
I’ve spilled …
Six girls in as many months. Talk of Ouija boards, a ghost hand lifting them in turn to rope. How else could they read the air and think …
‘I’m sorry. I haven’t done this before
and I’m quite nervous,’ he said,
folding himself into the suitcase.
‘Don’t worry,’ she said, ‘Take your time.
The whole town’s come to see …
for Elaine Feeney
while we watch our movies sunk in beanbags
the women
are talking without pause of blocked guts
ladling food into handbags
where it settles in …
