Where Poems Go
In Tampa, Florida, Irene Ledbetter
sits at her desk to write to me.
She holds the magazine with my poem
about my brother and his dead dog.
Rural Education
When my classmate’s cow died
in the name of science they winched it
onto the junior high football field just as
the sky started to spit small white pellets
Bad Back
Last night, in 7-11, the cashier reached
across the counter to scan my purchases
then grimaced and grabbed the small
of his back. I know that pain well
so I said, “I’ve got a bad back, too.”
Blue Sky
On weekends when the woman walks up hills, she does it to see the sun. At sea level, thick smog obliterates the sky, a gray and toxic smothering. Despite the altitude, once she gets above it she breathes easier. She has not seen such a blue sky from down below since childhood.
I’m Trying to Lead This Old-Timey Veteran
to the small room where I can interview him
for a research study on back pain
but his legs don’t work well
which is not an uncommon problem
for guys who served in the Army
when they were teenagers
or in their early 20s
guys whose only options
Poem in Which I Binge
It took me a while to hear
the term “binge watching”
without flinching, remembering
my binge eating
on East Fifth Street—