Looking the Joke
At dawn one small howl and then
another. At dawn I am certain
I loved that man three years ago
but no one would have known,
even I who spent weeks imagining
him outside my door where he waited
for me to sense his presence.
When a wasp landed in his hair
on a walk we took by the school
he knew enough to wait,
not wanting to have to kill it.
You will soon choose your weapon,
he said when I told him
he should stay with me. Each look
has its plea and I spent mine
on joking. When he mumbled
all I wanted from him was sex,
I didn't know how to laugh
because part of this was true--
after a while who doesn't want sex
when it's been talked about so much.
He stayed away for a month,
then the hardest work he'd done
in years and afterward
I gave him a beer. I love you
for this, I said, pointing to the hole
where a new window would go.
We boarded it up before dark
and from outside I thought it looked
like a scar, though it would only look
that way for a night.
Christine Sneed
Tables of Content
Seventeen (Fall 2003)
Sixteen (Spring 2003)
Fifteen (Fall 2002) Fourteen (Spring 2002)
Thirteen
(Fall 2001) Twelve (Spring 2001)
Eleven (Fall 2000)
Ten (Spring 2000)
Nine (Fall 1999) Eight (Spring 1999)
Seven, (Fall 1998) Six, (Spring 1998)
Five (Fall 1997) Four (Winter/Spring 1997)
Three (Summer/Fall 1996) Two (Winter 1996)