Squirrel on the Porch
In the split second
it took me to recognize him
he was gone
and he seemed then
as exotic as a squonk or manticore,
something dreamed.
It was only his unexpectedness,
of course, set on
our porchrail with his snack,
a harbinger of renewable love.
In Love in a Baneful Town
Even as the devil goes by,
his hooves resounding
on the paving stones
like a runaway steed,
we huddle naked beneath
your grandmother’s quilt.
Our bodies touch along
every small hair, every
inch of flesh alive like
a chaffinch. We know the
spells which ward away
evil, incantations which begin
with the whispered words,
“Come closer, dearest.”
A Whirly-Gig World
She asked me
if I wanted to live
in a whirly-gig world,
and I thought, hell,
I’d give it a shot.
She took me by my
short stack and
didn’t let go until she
was through wringing
from me all that was
charming or cute
or smart. It felt like death,
the small death
the French know. I was
left, feckless and spoony,
but, friends, it
was worth it,
for her, the wet center of her,
and for the short
time spent living, sort of, in
a whirly-gig world.
--- Corey Mesler
--- chmesler@earthlink.net
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (in his own words):
I have published prose and/or poetry in Yellow Silk, Pindeldyboz, Mars Hill Review, Pikeville Review, Arkansas Review, Center, Small Press Review, Jabberwock Review, Rattle, Orchid, Quick Fiction, Timber Creek Review, Green Egg, Poetry Motel, Raintown Review, Potomac Review, Poetry Super Highway, Big Muddy, Slant, Wilmington Blues, Drought, Rockhurst Review, Wavelength, Lilliput Review, Pearl, Aurorean, Lucid Moon, Heeltap, Sunny Outside, Fish Drum, Into the Teeth of the Wind, Mid-American Poetry Review, Independence Boulevard, Midday Moon, Turnrow, Now Here Nowhere, Dust, Cherotic Revolutionary, Cotyledon, Buckle &, Iodine, Snakeskin (England), Flashpoint, Freewheelin’ (England), Pitchfork, Anthology, Poet Lore, Spillway, The Pegasus Review, Reverb, Kimera, Thema, Kumquat Meringue, Lonzie’s Fried Chicken, Both Sides Now, Electric Acorn (Dublin), Razor Wire, Gin Bender, Blue Unicorn, Black Dirt, The Spirit that I recently won the Moonfire Poetry Chapbook Competition and my chapbook will be published by Still Waters Press in 2003.
One of my short stories was chosen for the 2002 edition of New Stories from the South: The Year’s Best, edited by Shannon Ravenel.
My novel-in-dialogue, Talk, was published by Livingston Press in 2002. Raves from Lee Smith, Robert Olen Butler, Steve Stern, Debra Spark, Suzanne Kingsbury, Frederick Barthelme and John Grisham.
I've been a book reviewer (for The Commercial Appeal, BookPage, The Memphis Flyer, Brightleaf), fiction editor (for Ion Books/raccoon), university press sales rep, grant committee judge (for The Oregon Arts Council), father and son. With my wife I own Burke’s Book Store, one of the country’s oldest (1875) and best independent bookstores.
Thanks for the consideration.
Best,
Corey Mesler
1954 Young
Memphis TN 38104
(901) 278-7484
(901)278-7484