Five by Seven
- Five by Seven
When people have photographs of themselvesdisplayed in their own homes, I always assumethey have died and it is their ghostswho invited me over, their ghosts with whomI'm sharing a meal, making smalltalk about all the bodies and trash on Mount Everest.Oh lacquered ghosts, so high on your ownfinished triptych of fetesand feats and the corresponding assuranceyou go unforgotten—let's
go out. From the recent restaurant boom,infer a citywide uptick in rage-ravaged homes.People want new spots to fight, to squalland snipe, lose their appetites, be broughtthe chalkboard special, not touch it,see it whisked to the kitchen and scrapedout back for a dog to eat, but that's cool—dogshave to eat, too— [End Page 17]
Natalie Shapero is Professor of the Practice of Poetry at Tufts University and an editor at large of the Kenyon Review. Her poetry collections are Hard Child and No Object.
