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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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. |
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