National Poetry Month Day 2: “To Mercury, In Retrograde” by Randall Mann
To Mercury, In Retrograde
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This ointment isn’t helping.
This clinic isn’t free.
The nurse’s favorite movie
is Penitentiary III.
I walk around in Crocs—
the wild parrots attack.
When all my gadgets fail,
I crash at Radio Shack.
A twirler on the pier
shows me how to juggle.
He immolates himself
before he asks to snuggle.
My wife’s a dirty hole;
my husband is the shovel.
And verse is not enough:
I’m working on a novel;
I bought a tanning bed.
My surface wounds are fresh.
My corner smells of hunger
and slathered, burning flesh.
-Randall Mann
Randall Mann is the author of Breakfast With Thom Gunn and Complaint in the Garden.