An Old Man Sighted, Planting Poinsettias
Meg Eden

mary, mary
you silly bitch—how does your garden
grow with no rain?
 
it takes three hands for maintenance,
things do not evolve legs without a hand
holding them upright, an intention;
 
you know the story of the seeds. this is your
horoscope: nothing lasts. you step. devour. choke.
you’ve become generic, lucky for you,
 
the old man still comes in and fertilizes
and waters and plants, even though the park
is nearly closed. oh mary mary,
this garden will never grow—
 
if you have ears, you will hear
the absence of sound. if you have hands,
you will walk on them. mary,
no one has taught you, have they?

MEG EDEN has been published in various magazines and anthologies, including Rock & Sling, The Science Creative Quarterly, anderbo, Gloom Cupboard, and Crucible. Her collection  Your Son has received The Florence Kahn Memorial Award. Her collection Rotary Phones and Facebook is coming soon in 2012 from Dancing Girl Press. Check out her stuff at artemisagain.wordpress.com.

:: ABOUT :: ISSUES :: SUBMISSIONS :: NEWS ::

ISSUE :: 5 ::

Brenda Anderson ::	The Fimble Wind
Evelyn Hampton ::	Hi
	Savior
	Start With Steak
Helen Vitoria ::	White
Adam Stoves ::	Ballusional
Rose Hunter ::	[taxi]
Gary Every ::	Popes on Bicycles
Bethany Haug ::	Love in the Park
Danielle Lea Buchanan ::	Spawn
Lewis Gesner ::	Black Ball
David Tomaloff ::	Five Photographs
Danica Obradovic ::	The Shortest Ceremony
	Syllabic Debacle
Mark Walters ::	Caveboy 1 & 2
Larissa Nash ::	The Star
	Unreal
Jenny McDougal ::	For the Monkey Astronauts of America in the 1950s
	Adler Planetarium on a Weekend
James Valvis ::	Poem Composed Entirely With Last Lines from James Dickey Poems 1 & 2
T.J. O'Donnell ::	Morning Shift
	Handmade in Alaska
Emily Glossner Johnson ::	Vladimir Lenin Grown Weary
Meg Eden ::	An Old Man Sighted, Planting Poinsettias

Homage to the Strange Spirits

Kenneth Patchen ::

Picture Poems