9.12 / December 2014

Jetlag

Nicole Callihan

At any moment, one of us is liable
to meltdown. See: the rounded tower

in France with its blistered God Particle.
Fly. Now see: pre-dawn Brooklyn rainstorm.

If I could just keep my eyes closed, I tell myself,
but then my daughter says, Technically,

saying the same word twice makes a rhyme.
I try it on for size: paralyze, paralyze;

battre, battre; ardea, ardea. Is it better
to make love or sense, cake or babies?

Slippery dippery dock, oh this terrible clock—
May the body remember what the mind forgot.

Nicole Callihan's work has appeared or is forthcoming from Forklift, Ohio, Tinderbox, Barrow Street and as a Poem-a-Day selection from the Academy of American Poets. Her first collection of poems, SuperLoop, was published in early 2014. Find her at www.nicolecallihan.com.

9.12 / December 2014