Two Poems

TOURISM IS IMPORTANT

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THE SHERRIFS DREAM

Nightvale’s town criers have cross-stitched their mouths shut and stapled their eyes open. The benches are all broken. No one sits down anyway. No one can fit their broken wings beneath their cloaks. A skin condition that makes its victims appear timelessly sad afflicts most. Prominent citizens drown in the carpool lane. Their makeup floats to the surface. Wine glasses clink together. They hate each other. They clink. Until one breaks and then the other. There is no such thing as vagrants. There is no such thing as home. The sun has a tic. No one can afford flowers but the children stand very still in the garden. Until the cold snap cracks.

THE CANDIDATE’S PROMISE

No one will
Have to be
Anyone
Ever again, in fact
It will not
Be
Allowed.

REAL ESTATE DEVOLOPMENTS

Streets swallow their own tails.
And choke.

PARENTAL CONCERNS

Sometimes my son cries
When I pull the petals from him. My daughter
Has no leaves.
‘

RUMOR HAS IT

No one has lived here for years. You’re one of them. One of the
No ones. A woman is a fire and no one is invited. Anyone can watch.
No one can help.

LOVE IN NIGHTVALE

I’m sorry, I didn’t understand the question.

THE WEATHER REPORT

I have missed you for longer than I can recall. I’ve heated hail
In a cast iron skillet. I’ve woven butter. I’ve shaped the honey
Of your hair.

RECREATION

You go to the zoo
So the animals
Can watch
You.

EATS

At the diner you finger the pie you eat the pie
Stirring up a finger from beneath the meringue.
It’s your finger.
The ring won’t fit the stump. The waitress
Nods to the car outside. If I could leave this place
I wouldn’t.

BEST FRIENDS 4VA

          Either
You get the check or I do or we are still arguing as the
Flames change us I’ll bet you’d look beautiful
In a hospital bed eating warmed up hail

          With a fox instead of a phone

Nothing below your elbow now but the Poet will call the absence
Tenderness even as it-

PET CARE

I’ll bet this animal is stuffed
With us

CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS IS NEXT TO CITY HALL WHICH SHINES LIKE NEW SKIN AFTER YOU’VE PEELED AFTER YOU’VE RUBBED AFTER ALL HOPE HAS BEEN SNUFFED

Do these machines operate on sadness alone. Does anyone have an extra veil/detergent. Does anyone have an extra these stunts sitting at the kitchen table are too dangerous for any but the most trained professional.

MARRIAGE

We share one eyelash between us.

Danielle

[wpaudio url=”/audio/8_4/Swensen2.mp3″ text=”listen to this poem” dl=”0″]

The rustling of your dress is the fabric whispering that it loves you, loves you, loves you.