ARR 1988 - Flipbook - Page 102
pneumonia
this hum hum humming from the closet echoed.
can't I sleep?
this black blacken,ing room chewed me as its delicacy
i saw no candle
just a wasp and a red that opened my mouth
we traded for an eyelid that the shadow was holding.
where did he get it from and who else was here?
the left hand without fingers told me,
leaking his knowledge into mine:
"go up in the closet, the right top shelf,
and secretly hidden there in a towel vase is granny's first adopted son!"
i was stiff as marble but went to the bruise bruise bruisy chamber where
granny held her Sunday smiles and evening gowns ...
there was a box wrapped in navy blue.
the left hand coaxed the right hand to pull the lid off
but naught naught naughty wasp flipped it over the edge
and onto the floor came the dead dead dead dark baby
eyelidless and with a chalky smell.
Dan Frederick
88
