Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The Rabbit Test

Bernhard and Selmar hit the jackpot in 1927
Xenopus frogs have nothing on lady rabbits
Someone decided they prefer urine over blood
but forgot they hated injections, scalpels
HCG steals the spotlight

Elizabeth tells Edward the rabbit died
over bathtub gin and mock chicken made from peanuts
He scrapes the plate, curses prohibition between bites,
forgets the rabbit, thinks about the young boy in Honshu
That Certain Feeling hums from the player piano

quietly, but audibly
he rushes to the Gershwin
plays I'm Lookin For A Four-Leaf Clover
Somewhere across the city another rabbit's ovaries bulge
Eggs bury themselves in walls

A Pinch, A Clank

Her mind was messy
or dirty or pigeon-holed
the look on her face
blank,
fearless.

Everything became blurry,
Twisted
Uncomfortable, fragile, expected
Her palms sweaty now
Heart crinkling,
Exploding.

She closed her eyes
not to go elsewhere,
to take it in more slowly
to control it, focus.

There was a pinch, a clank
A release, a weight
A choice, more choice
The choice, silence.

Thanksgiving

He'd had a King Kooker since their first-born was a baby,
when Thanksgiving started to mean something.
Everyone gathered at their house
clanking dishes and silverware into the night.

He dug it out of the basement
the night before,
smoked a cigar while he brushed it off,
imagined the kids tossing the football in the backyard.

He went to Whole Foods and bought a six pound turkey,
cooked it outside in the oil like he does every year,
cried while he ate it
alone
at a table set for five.

Boil

I wanted to make you chicken, broccoli, ziti tonight
I took out the chicken, sprayed the frying pan,
dug in the back of the pantry for your favorite four cheese alfredo sauce
I washed the cutting board, set the broccoli out,
put the water on the stove
Just as it reached a boil I remembered
that you left four months ago

I made the usual amount anyway
Half a box of ziti
Couple crowns of broccoli
Two of the finest Tyson chicken patties
Imagined you calling to say you were running late
Got stuck at work or something

I started eating without you
Watched your plate go cold
Thought three times I heard the door
Made myself coffee when I finished
Washed my plate while it cooled
Then sat with your plate thirty minutes more