Three Poems By Corey Mesler

The Woman at the Laundromat

She was reading Faulkner in the
laundromat. She had dark
circles under her eyes.
It was late.
I was there with a load of diapers,
unhappy, cold, wanting.
Once she looked up
and our eyes met. I smiled and
nodded at her book.
Communication between us was
weighted like falling fruit
no one would eat.
I went back to my bad marriage.
I like to think when she got home
a man greeted her and
apologized and the rest of their lives was blithe and almost impossible.

First Grade

I was small. I was
frightened. I cried
so often the teacher
paddled me. What
are you afraid of?
Mother rightly asked.
I had no words.
It was large and it
was monstrous, my
fear. I was surrounded
by strangers with
whom I practiced
the alphabet and the
numbers. And with
whom I ducked under
desks, practicing
for when that time came.

The History of Abandoned Isms

Nothing keeps me calm for long.
Slice the old bo-tree
and put it under my pillow.
My sails will still billow in the
morning, red with the
blood of the sun. Sleepless
in Gaza. Diet, movement, still-
ness, this ism that ism,
I will walk only so far. Pal,
I need you. I need
your heart, your courage, your
friendly fire. Let me sit
with you a while, just watching
the zeppelin slowly descending,
the people screaming like gulls.

Corey Mesler has been published in numerous anthologies and journals, including Poetry, Gargoyle, Five Points, Lunch Ticket, Good Poems American Places and New Stories from the South. He has published over 50 books of fiction and poetry. His newest book, A Troubling of Goldfish, is from Big Table Books. With his wife, he runs Burke’s Book Store (est. 1875) in Memphis. Find him on social media under @coreymesler.