Half iron, half oak, the bed
all night honed on what went wrong
–it’s an axe, striking upside down
though you sleep facing north
side by side an empty dress
shaped into bulls and chariots
with your mouth wide apart
louder and louder getting ready
for the slow descent –you sit
on the edge, trying to bleed
to open the sleeves
still reaching out in the dark.
Simon Perchik is an attorney whose poems have appeared in Partisan Review, Forge, Poetry, Osiris, The New Yorker and elsewhere. His most recent collection is The Gibson Poems published by Cholla Needles, 2019. For more information including free e-books and his essay “Magic, Illusion and Other Realities” please visit his website at http://www.simonperchik.com. To view one of his interviews please follow this link.
© 2019, Simon Perchik
Halfway Down the Stairs 