Two Poems

Hi friends. Something different this week. I’ve been working on a chapbook manuscript for…well, years. And in the last few weeks, I’ve gotten closer to drafts that I didn’t want to pitch into a lake, so I thought I’d share two of them. Feel free to comment! It would be nice to get some thoughts, to be honest, given that I’ve been working on them largely in secret like a total weirdo for years. As always, the voiceover is me reading them.

-MD

House Fire

The dogs died first. 

We watched from the hill—

their bodies 
on the lawn—

bitter little things.

Every thought
a torch now—
cracked and
charred.

And the fireman said, 
They suffocate
before they burn.

---

Forgetting
For Jareka and Daniel

I. 

It starts 
with words—
mason jars that we 
fill with the small bones
of all the little dead things 
we find on 
our long walks
through the woods.

When the jars are full we 
put them on the shelf 
above the bed—
take them down late at night
to hurl at each other 
or clutch to our chests.

Where does language live in you?
he said.

And breath 
was a stone—

that sat in my throat.

II.

Under pressure, Richard 
tells us the joke: 
What do they do with Blacks after they die?
We wait for the hurt.
Gut them and make wetsuits.

At another party 
I ask him to tell it 
again.



III. 

There’s a scene
in the movie 
where everyone inhales at once
and then gnashes their 
teeth.
It marks the separation 
of acts one
and two.
Audience participation is required.

IV.

I remember now

—how a heart
can rot 
in a chest.