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43


44


59


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43
 

You will live in the heart
of a man who loves

the wasp that sends him
into anaphylactic shock,

rending your home from out
beneath you, he won’t

say a goddamn word,
not a syllable within

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44
 

I will be a raccoon.

Your only.

A big black universe and here
is a raccoon.

That is what
light is

for you, cha cha
cha,

he dances.

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59
 

I will storm-proof
your entire body

Jesus will come through town,
pretending

to save everyone
although in truth

he is throwing them
in a big hole

You will listen to them scream


*


When it is silent you
will remove the boards from

your windows, assessing
the emptiness

you have been saved for

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66
 

Lonesome rounds of bologna,
you will scream, Lonesome rounds,
Bologna, when you know,
the streets will look, the shoes
will tap, when you know,
on the small marble, the
great marble, you will know,
that will be the hard thing,
then everything after, it
is easy, Lonesome rounds,
Bologna, Carton of milk,
carton of juice.

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DENNIS JAMES SWEENEY admires Amelia Gray and that is why he wrote these poems based on sections of her novel. Find other of his work in Fiction Southeast, Juked, Mid-American Review, Spork, and elsewhere. Find him in Boulder, Colorado, ringing up your groceries.

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