person Glen Armstrong, one poem

Glen Armstrong holds an MFA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and teaches writing at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. He edits a poetry journal called Cruel Garters.

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Trouble Every Day XLIII

We miss that little world overthrown
                  Just for us
                  By our mothers’ arms

                  To such an extent
                  That we demand it even
                  From our enemies

Better to forfeit a head
                  Than adoration

Each adversary must admire
                  Us and say so
                  Though we must not
                  Say so first

The dirt we invade
                  Must greet our bones
                  As that missing secret

                  Ingredient

The dirty legs of peasant girls
                  Must long for more

                  Us / foreign kisses

This is war

                  A marriage
                  Between rhetoric
                  And killing

Alone in our little bedrooms
                  We will have the silence
                  Pronounce our names.

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