Michael Prihoda lives in central Indiana. He is the editor of After the Pause, an experimental literary magazine and small press. His work has received nominations for the Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net Anthology and he is the author of eight poetry collections, most recently Years Without Room (Weasel Press, 2018).
***
understand a spiderweb & how it doesn’t have wings
for Casey Mcleod, after teaching 8th grade English for two years
am i art
to twenty
humans?
or only
a prayer
of future’s
anteroom.
i hold
no keys
yet i must
hand them
a padlock
of fingered
combination,
learn them
a twist
of sleight
tourniquet.
for they
bleed
earlier
than i ever did
& i don’t
quite believe
any promise
of ocean
could fathom
this canoe.
**
another city
remember
how
the snow
in St. Paul
turned flaxen,
tannic and gray
as the inside
of a gutter
or a mouth
of toothless
paint
samples.
time to redecorate,
soften the blow
of the fourth
dimension,
form our pillows
into other shapes,
a skyline against
the couch arms
so that, when our
company arrives,
expecting brie
and the wine
of half a week’s wages
they will see another city.
***
Reblogged this on kingsoftrain.
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