Mule
- Mule
In the distancecatastrophe crackles.
The lazy swayof a swing.
The heartfelterror. The ruby
held in one'sown mouth for luck.
Thanks Logicwith your rules.
Thanks Time.Your tense
second hand.Thanks Allegory
always a womanriding nude upon
a noble horse.A woman rides nude
upon a braying mule.She is not pretty
or young. Her handscatch the beast's neck. [End Page 183]
Behind these meaningsanother meaning.
Behind one child'scough the other child
also coughing.The na na na na na
na na na na of Für Elise.I will always remember
the cough and the coughand behind that more
like a naked womanfloating on the water's
greasy surfacelike marigolds
like the dead. [End Page 184]
Rebecca Lehmann is the author of the poetry collections Ringer (University of Pittsburgh Press) and Between the Crackups (Salt). Her poems and nonfiction have been published or are forthcoming in Ploughshares, Tin House, Copper Nickel, The Missouri Review and other venues. She teaches at Saint Mary's College in Indiana, and is the founding editor of Couplet Poetry.
