June 22-28, 2015: Carl Boon and Katie Lewington

Eda

She’s a Turkish girl who’s become
a Turkish woman, who in her high-
heeled silver shoes stumbles
groping for a seat on the subway
at Forked Springs. The weather
forecast concerns her. The men
with briefcases watch her skirt
as it rides up her thighs. She knows—
with a certain haughty nonchalance—
she’ll never be a girl again,
and it shows in the language
she assumes with the fruit-
seller atop the subway steps.
It shows in the way she adjusts
the straps of her dress, meanly
and without consequence. Everything
points to her being late for a date
with the man who manages
the Honda dealership on the E-5
highway, even the way she clutches
her phone. For a minute I watch her,
then move on. I have to go home.
I have to be 41 years old.

Food labels

My mum is a risk taker and I follow
(You know when there’s a word
………….you want to use?
You click on the internet
then open the paperback dictionary
and you are sure
the word begins with v
and ends in m
Damn it
…………….damn it
My spelling of it is apparently
German
According to Google
I’m not crazy, this word exists)

Verbatim (The word was in an article about Sylvia Plath)

I follow verbatim the information
on packets of food
if the label states: put them in the fridge
then I will
if the tin reads: eat by
then I will make sure that I do

My mum says ‘well, I don’t’
And ‘I never go by the sell by date’

Nobody has died, yet, in my family of food poisoning.

If we could

if we could be drunk
…………….………..and sober

simply soar
aware of the grass
and the stones and the fluffy cloud
………………….that looks like a top hat

if we could skip up
………………..the ten flight steps
dropping everything at the door
……………..and fuck without
…………………………..worrying about
unpleasant reactions
and laughing over funny faces

If we could be productive
and work a ten hour shift
still light and breezy
choosing a curry
home to family

Simplistic pleasures

if we could be drunk and sober

simply soar.