This Life, Its Cage of Longing, and: Economies
Rent from DeepDyve- This Life, Its Cage of Longing, and: Economies
This Life, Its Cage of Longing
I watch through the glassas the pythons couple,
their heaviness unspooled.They stretch, still, for hours.
No ears, they needn’t saythe right thing.
No limbs complicatetheir joining.
No hands hold onor let go.
Their tails crossone over the other.
Their clear eyesdo not close. [End Page 152]
Economies
Some days, I wake up tiredof saving the worldfor future use.
I want to blow itall in one place,
trade my plug-in Priusfor a carthat can keep up
while I guzzlewhiskey
and toss my emptiesout the window.How refreshing to cause
an extravaganceof shattering,
and learnto wear my lifeas my husband
wears his: a set of clotheshe will not need again.
He showers three timesa day, and does notonce imagine [End Page 153]
the world’s aquifer’sdraining.
His throat never tightensaround anyone’s projectedthirst or pain.
When we watch footageof the oil spill,
his spirits are not sedimentsinking. He imaginesinstead
the murky plumespraying into air,
wonders how high would it gowithout an oceanto impede it.
High as his biplane,maybe, or the sky
he dives joyfully from—spinning,tumbling—his handon the stick
the axisa whole world turns on. [End Page 154]
Francesca Bell’s poems have appeared in many journals, including Rattle, burntdistrict, North American Review, Passages North, and elsewhere. She has been nominated six times for the Pushcart Prize.
