Magnets

MAGNETS / Gary Soto I click the plastic faces of kewpie dolls Together—they want to kiss but can't. The magnets behind their heads have died Out, and wouldn't pull up iron filings From the loosest dirt, let alone show Affection, smack lips or clunk heads And make my bashful nephew say, Ah, that's for sissies. They stare at each other, Shyly with hands behind their backs, Black lash of youth, pink cheeks of first time. But it's over for them. The magnets Have died out. I drink my coffee And think of old girlfriends, How we too clunked heads together, Kissed and clunked until that pull of love Stopped and we just looked. Sometimes the magnets fall from our heads, Settle in our hips. Beds are ruined This way. Books tumble from crowded shelves When couples clunk waists together, With the woman looking at ceilings, Men at loose hair on pillows, And then it's the other way around. But magnets die out. They grow heavy, These stones that could sharpen knives Or bring faces together for one last kiss. For years I thought iron lived forever, Certainly longer than love. Now I have doubts. The kewpie dolls, set on starched doilies On my grandmother's television, Smile but don't touch. The paint is flaking, Dust is a faint aura of loss. Grandmother loved Her husband for five decades, and still does, 58 ' The Missouri Review Poor grandpa who is gone. They worked Side by side in fields, boxed raisins, Raised children in pairs. Now grandmother Wants to die but doesn't know how. Her arms are frail, her eyes of cataract Can't hold a face. Hijo, hijo, She says, and looks over my shoulder. It's blinding wisdom to see her on the edge Of her couch. The magnet is in her feet, Ready to gather up the earth. Gary Soto The Missouri Review · 59 ARe-YbO MARRAD "X or living uJiTri vso/vte&opy ? ARe YoO 6AV OR STRAiSMT? Po you own of? Rent ? WHAT MA6A2IUÊS PO YOO SUBSCRIBE! To ? V\f\ve YOU HAP ANV MAToR HEALTH PROBLEMS ? WHAT'S VoüR FAVoRiTe- RESTAURANT "? AR£ Voü FoND of SPi cy foods ? Hou) WELL PO Yod 6eT AL0N6 WiTH yoüR PARENTS ? virtA?* yoüR mother's MAlOBN NAME- ? XT 4*1 -&H5#A¿y'ft&JNlj&J------1 ...