VEX’D DISCRETION

Everywhere else; not me 

A mother’s face soft and bereft, a haunting absence 

of intended function 

At home Jesus was spoken of as if he were a favorite son gone off to war  

Famished for compliments, struck by the manic 

cursive of a hummingbird 

I reach for a pen and forge my signature on a stolen diary 

Slathering a glance, a splotchy glory 

Through the dogged epoch 

We entered mirrors of speech 

We disinterred family history  

Our grandfathers not to be bothered 

But indivisible in pursuit 

Speaking into the same mirrors 

Each day hoping the insurance card remained holstered 

When knowledge of billions of terrestrial deaths had not yet reached 

the galaxies above their warm bald scalps 

Often, minutes passed uninspired, a chew to their presence 

The air quality index kept the lonely inside, their ceiling fans 

spinning in their soup spoons 

There was no denying it: The country has lost that new car smell

Motels reek with vacancy, windshields reflect the decade 

At a crabshack, wearing sweatshirts that speak for them,

patrons double-chin a cover band 

Oyster shells, like earthen dials, on knuckles of ice 

Daiquiri machines spin the colors of police 

I reeled past the caution tape of a dream sequence  

Landing inside the teardrop of a surfer 

An anesthetized body with shark fins of EKG like video game surf 

Nothing bearded my objectives; not the veteran’s hat of service ribbons,

not the widowers swapping urns, not the inclement cheerleaders, 

not the mother-in-law standing on the doorstep (also famished

for compliments), not the edict of a court officer as I walked

through security arches deboning my worth 

My task was to type up the story, the worst of it 

The moral of the poem my pearl 

Trusting the gyrations of commerce 

One couldn’t be sure, watching it coalesce, emulsify 

Heavy clouds dalmatianed the sky 

The curtains in our homes moving and screaming

Eric Amling is the author of From the Author's Private Collection (Birds, LLC, 2015). His work has appeared in Annulet, Fence, BOMB, Granta, and PEN America. Based in Kingston, NY, he is an editor of the small press After Hours Editions.