e d w a r d s m a l l f i e l d / m i r i a m p i r o n e |
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plaster |
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as if the afternoon were a window & you could watch yourself as the character he yourself as the character she one by one without envy what the moon punctuates from another planet the reddish in the arteries of the hospital someone sweeps a brush of red in borrowed boots anatomy & physiology to illuminate his vegetal skin counts on his fingers (the thumb a widow) dissect the craters milky way looped on a string |
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walking back & forth the hiss the blast of foghorns headlights fried and luminous the night fish once the stain on the inside of her dress knuckle & tendon tango & |
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the meeting recurs on Thursday on Mars the third is the last this sleep no mistake inside come back mass lilies and skin interrupted against your leg a word in another language written on the inside of her |
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muted & blurred somebody had started a fire in the next room first one book then another (each of the elements reads differently) after the cherries the peaches in autumn the setas arrive a paper flower an origami crane a God abandoned in a drawer |
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each hour unbuttons the body loved too well erases her fingerprints in a white dress seed pockets burst that language you are learning does something to your mouth water as the medium through which air as metaphor his translation of iron then rust |
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the color of the earth on the hem of her dress red or black as the occasion requires |
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dancing in his shoes on the ceiling above the bed the word heaven inserted between in high school science class for example the chemistry of four syllables: the twilight hours the harbor more Greek than Italian the prison more Russian than a necklace of broken amber (syllables) the color of ice a candle on the last night |
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EDWARD SMALLFIELD's poems have appeared in alice blue 2, Bird Dog, Five Fingers Review, New American Writing, Parthenon West, Traverse, 26, Volt, and a number of other magazines. He is the author of The Pleasures of C and the coauthor of One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, a book length collaboration with Doug MacPherson. MIRIAM PIRONE is the poetry editor of the on-line magazine The Big Ugly Review. She is currently writing a series of poems regarding restaurant work. |