|
|
|
|
|
|
Outside In It
The sky was the underside of an egg.
We pitched tents and caught
the cold like a flu. The wind whipped
through us, stranding us like
sailors drunk on moonlight. We separated
and later all we could talk about
was the night the wind came between us.
All we could talk about was each other,
how we camped on the side
of a cliff, a cliff that was us as surely as
the sky was our only witness.
Daughter, You
Daughter, you
wonder about your father
so still in the den,
so static in his chair.
The world moves around
him just like around
everyone else. You wonder
if his stillness is
what he desires, or does
he want to embrace
the world as he embraces
you. Daughter, you
are the wonder. Your father
writes long into the
morning. He hears birds.
He tastes the sweet coffee on
his tongue. He is still alive
to your soft footfall,
to the trill of your happy song,
as you go along, a sprite,
a reason for the tired old world
to keep moving around
such still points as your father,
your devoted, suspended father.
Corey Mesler is the owner of Burke’s Book
Store, in Memphis , Tennessee , one of the
country’s oldest (1875) and best independent
bookstores. He has published poetry and fiction
in numerous journals including Rattle,
Pindeldyboz, Quick Fiction, Cranky, Thema, Mars
Hill Review, Adirondack Review, Poet Lore and
others. He has also been a book reviewer for The
Memphis Commercial Appeal. A short story of his
was chosen for the 2002 edition of New Stories
from the South: The Year’s Best, published by
Algonquin Books. Talk, his first novel, appeared
in 2002. Nice blurbs from Lee Smith, John
Grisham, Robert Olen Butler, Frederick Barthelme,
and others. His new novel, We Are
Billion-Year-Old Carbon, came out in January
2006. His latest poetry chapbooks are Chin-Chin
in Eden (2003), Dark on Purpose (2004), Short
Story and Other Short Stories (2006) and The
Agoraphobe’s Pandiculations (2006). His poem,
“Sweet Annie Divine,” was chosen for Garrison
Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac. He also claims
to have written “Me and You and a Dog Named
Boo.” Most importantly, he is Toby and Chloe’s
dad and Cheryl’s husband. He can be found at
www.coreymesler.com. |
|
|
|
|
