Barton Smock - December 2007
 
SLIDE RULE; MOTHER'S NOTEBOOK

 
 

pulling the last word from the mouth of a scarecrow.
  shrinking, to fit, in the canoe of a rib.
  posing for pictures with shoplifted teddy bears.
  pressing the only button in a lonely room.
  bathing in the scrolling shadow of last credits.
  teaching beauty, the ropes.  the chains.
  sleeping next to a hotel key.  in a waste basket.
  speaking, in code.  of rain.
  tossing stones from the stomach of a hungry bridge.
  calling mother with a paper cup.
  tying a string to father's ankle.
  dressed in dry leaves by a river.
  putting birth control pills in offering plates.
  delivering envelopes to letter writers.
  in the unhitched, runaway, car of a train.
  shaking goodbye from a knuckle.
  rolling a cigarette over a ring finger.
  seducing the foreman of a warehouse
       stores tin mailboxes.
  collecting posters of missing cats.
  packing snow in an upside down church bell.
  wherever women, go, at night.
  in any, tenement, housing elegance.
  following, the back of a head, to a man, placing a pillow.
  pushing a stroller away from a park.  looking back. 
 
 

My name is Barton Smock , I am 31 years old, live in Ohio , have 3-kids, 2-jobs, 1-wife.  I have been published about three times, online, where I can be found sleeping.  Came across your publication on such an occasion and had one of my better dreams there.  This e-mail, also, bartonsmock@yahoo.com.