they always want me by Scott Ferry

-after Lillian Necakov

to buy gold refinance my ulcers

keep a generator muttering new manifestos

in my basement keep cans of lima beans and cash

enough for 15 youtube craniotomies when the war or the riots

or the asteroids never hit

 

but what does come is this mayonnaise body travelling through lists

what does come is this not listening to my daughter as she tells

me about what the sky looks like underwater

what does come is the numbing of the nipples

dry of milk what does come is a long afternoon

trying not to sleep in a mannequin bath

what does come is coffee which doesn’t coffee

and liquor i can’t kiss

 

when the sun unzips i will be already shaved and copied

a rooted prop growing under the earth mirroring each

of my missteps but now the beetles have chewed off the warning

labels and the seeds have gone to seed and the maggots fly

unwinged in the broth but i have safety goggles

and i have all of you to hold from down here

still growing upward lifting with

these lilting prayers these

greenveined psalms

in my wrists

Scott Ferry helps our Veterans heal as a RN. He has recent work in the American Journal of Poetry, Misfit, and Spillway. His second book, Mr. Rogers kills fruit flies, is available from Main St. Rag. You can find more of his work @ ferrypoetry.com.