JoAnna Novak​

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Au Pif 

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She wonders what he is doing

timezones foolish as pie on a rack

 

timer yelling like a parrot

oven hung with vanilla please

 

have no oven no order

to feed fashion to wait like

 

no clock that can tell

like a scream in the night

 

she can tell the dog the kids

the door as it opens and the cactus

 

hard-trunked alone perfect natural

change of state she is a right angle

 

patiently blinking triplicate

blink the apples rumming

 

blink butter under the baseboards

blinking someone hums in his night

 

she believes this

she will get red and messy

 

stomach scummed on

mattress eggy and pooled

 

the leather jacket like an apron

useless but on

 

shoes under the window

and he comes swinging

 

tools for contentment

a drama longer than a weekend

 

she said so they shared a sauce

she clomped up the stairs

 

they asked a thousand paintings

to tell the story of the ugly same shade

 

a window overlooking an orange

vendor who also sold rice cookers and posies

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