A Short List of Facts

by Brooke Harries

The peacekeeper dove flies scroll in mouth
He chokes sometimes trying to fit in all in
More than once my roommate has gone downstairs
In the middle of the night
The barn looks more red over time
The trim has two jobs
One is keeping the red safe for radiance
Most things are two things
The fountain wishes for slot machine
The lapping wave aches in my missed flight
Will someone hold my phone where my hand used to be?
His face keeps looking better and it's not even that good

In the theater of absent parents I pour scripts into people
I put my hands in the upper pockets of his coat saying bye
To hear him say "Get out of there" full of glee
Working hard to understand what I love I hide myself in the inroads
I'm losing acquaintances so rapidly it must be impersonal
I do it like we stole it but I would do it better if it was part of a bigger picture

If you are from Alaska and get too proud of it
You wind up moving home but that goes for anywhere
Liquor store guys make a personality only once
But I can't settle into one
I'm convinced I'm starving
My favorite kind of food is complaining
I want someone thick and indented with my whole being
Persuaded by some high order slanted reed
To stay near this pond making instruments
I know this guy who drives around with trash in his car
Very detached from or attached to recent past
A tea-stained cup
This is what liking someone is for
I watch excellent movies and drift the whole way through
Reluctant to accept anything on a screen
That is not his slightly torn up face pretending to sleep with pursed lips
And that is how you receive a fax in someone else's office these days

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