SOMEWHERE BETWEEN
the collar
of your navy
pea coat
and your clumsy
hair
the crescent
of your neck
moons me
between white lace sheets
a blizzard
two storms move across
sky
to meet over new york city one night
in 1888 with bare hands
i saw you somewhere the way you see someone you know on television
eating whipped butter spread
somewhere your messy
untied shoelaces
somewhere puddles
between moon and mantle
they buried you
somewhere in my baseball cap
somewhere your sideburns climb the brain between your thoughts
with bare hands
between fingers between buttons between snowflakes big as bulbs
we share a monster somewhere a wall
somewhere the poem becomes a train becomes a moon
the close watch of the clock somewhere—
women in sequins and buckles, men in
pleated yokes and coattails twirling and
kissing between the hands of the clock
we were drinking and twirling and blowing
kisses towards something we didn’t fully
understand
somewhere two storms make monster over new york city
between fingers between buckles
I wet your paper plate
with the lawn hose out back
somewhere your bony
back—the muscles of the city motionless
yes, I saw them fall
yes, I was somewhere on canal street— I was late for a meeting
no, I forgot the time, I didn’t realize anyone was inside
no, I couldn’t run my pants were too long—no, my heels were too high
on a subway between church and chambers
i think to bowtie your shoelaces
between
left and right
between your left
handedness
and your proclivity
towards paper cuts
your pen exploded
ink
puddles
your shirt pocket
splatters somewhere
between east and neck
again in the space
between the backs of your ears
CONFLICTS WITH MASTER #1
First, it was cherry pits and pork chop bones
in the bed sheets.
Then, an opened can of soup with the mushrooms picked
out and laid across the bed—
Sometimes we are asleep, but technically we are awake. Dolphins
for example, sleep one hemisphere at a time.
She caught him in the act, (not the violent masturbating, that started much later)
when she awoke in the shriek of night to find him crying –here,
kitty, kitty at the edge
of the bed chewing
raw bacon and cigarettes
or rummaging the neighbors’
homes for stale licorice and coffee filters chanting
“God Bless America”.
From that point on she took
matters into her own hands:
(ladies, here’s how to keep a man—)
Push the love seat.
Push the sofa.
Push the cherry book case.
Push the walnut coffee table (which belonged to your mother)
Push the kitchen table.
Disconnect the TV and PUSH.
PUSH. volumes
of history books & board games.
In the early morning, when she slipped back into bed beside him, she would
sometimes find teeth marks in the mattress and pillowcases –
He had been dreaming what he always dreams: He is a large cat circling a
zookeeper with a bucket of raw meat.
ADDIE POLK, 90
When he heard a loud noise come from Addie’s house, A neighbor
used a ladder to enter the second story bathroom. At first, he assumed
the long-barreled handgun on the bed was for protection. Then he saw
the red— “Oh, no. Miss Polk musta done shot herself.” Downstairs,
in the home Addie and her late husband lived in for 37 years: Addie’s
car keys, Addie’s wristwatch, Addie’s pocketbook, Addie’s policy
laid out across the antique table with blue trim. The notes the deputies
had been leaving always disappeared, though Addie had never come
to the door when they rang.
MARVIN SCHUR
World War II veteran,
survivor of the Great
Depression
found stiff.
Man, 93—
The coroner said:
I’ve done hundreds of these,
never seen someone freeze
inside their home.
Bay City Electric
Light and Power
sent notice via mail.
On the kitchen table:
a utility bill clipped
to a large amount of money.
J. Hope Stein is studying at New England College.