With Almost an Impeccable Shrug
Maurice Oliver

And when I finish sorting through the stalls of my mind I've listed:

-A narrow room that faces cheap flattery.

-Two blankets of stars left in a laundromat dryer.

-Several crumpled bags of derelict street corners.

-A stray cat intent on stalking a rusty nail.

-Old-fashioned wood carvings in the shape of penitence.

-A pleasure cruise floating belly-up.

-Four anxious truckloads of worry beads.

-A postcard of adverbs swaying in a tropical sunset.

-Rude hand gestures stowed away in an attic trunk.

-A mop where the handle part is pieces of a puzzle.

-The murky yellow eye of a streetlamp.

-A grown-up hiccup attempting to ride a child's bicycle.

1996 © 2006