Speculation, Made to Last
i
I warn you
this is not a happy story
it wanders through the graveyard
it wanders near your house
ii
a wasp
as if glass
as if singing
a small lamp
stand by the door
& listen
in the head lights
in the flare of a match
the light of your eyes
reflected
your voice calling
singing
bringing down the rain
iii
dust
nothing I can say about that
you, furious, skinny, wide-eyed
now shift
as if that were the cure
iv
sweet, reeking
like formaldehyde
You’ve gone under &
come back up
baptism, drowning
in salt water
swimming with the fishes
take a couple
of bitter sips
breathe deep
Jesse Lee Kercheval’s most recent books are Cinema Muto, winner of a Crab Orchard Open Selection Award, and Brazil, which won the Ruthanne Wiley Memorial Novella Award and is forthcoming from the Cleveland State University Poetry Center. She directs the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
