Public Radio
All my chicken breasts are lined up
on the cutting board ready for
Step 1 (pounding) and Step 2 (dredging).
The kids from the house next door are running
in the yard, where the dirty stuffed bunny sits
water-logged on the fencepost.
The neighbors are listening
to The Cure and I am thinking
about the flame (this recipe left out
any mention of heat, as though the word “cook”
could mean only one thing) and how the
breasts will look when they’re
done. I am thinking about timing,
dressing, and salad, the thyme
leaves browning the grooves of my
fingerprints so they’re wholly
obscured. I am thinking about
fitting three skillets on the stovetop
without bumping into each
other. One for the chicken,
one for potatoes, and one
for the greens. The radio is on and
I’m listening to Ira Glass, his nasal
voice and inflectionless line, but
I am not paying much attention
to the show because I am
1) pounding and 2) dredging.
Which is to say I am not
thinking about your slick-sheeted
lover, double life,
your children wandering the apartment
unawares. Your tattoo creeps
out of your jeans, as yesterday
.
the steeple point at Jefferson
Square pricked the sky and the
sun was blinding and deep
gold. I had carried home
all the things from the market
I would need for our dinner
with the neighbors and I wondered
if you would be meeting a train or
ascending a staircase.
And now I am
thinking
that tomorrow
I might
make a feast.
Sports Poem
I don’t know as I get
what they mean when they say
nothing good ever
lasts that I actually
agree. This cold
ocean, for instance,
just keeps on
coming to the
shore, leaving
dark thin layers
of crust where
the waves got
bigger and
receded.
I like to run through
the woods and
“get back”
to nature as
they say but
I don’t like
baseball, am just
not one for diamonds or
dry, dusty mounds.
Running through
the woods I can pretend
I am a fairly slow
cheetah. Turns out
a cat left
around an open
keyboard will type
an indefinite
number of y’s
before she is
.
interrupted. The uninterrupted
expanse
of green leaf and brown
bark is what
makes looking
left out
this window so
irresistible and
possibly even
good for you
which is my
answer to the
sports question
