Poem Beginning with Phrase from W.H. Auden
Taller today, in emptied summer city
the height of the deceased singer
five foot five, weight one twenty
people with basement apartments
were short and wore one-piece
bathing suits to beaches and lakes
the old Foodmaster became a pharmacy
the pharmacy became an exercise studio
with big plate glass windows and nobody
goes there except one person steps
up and steps down with hand weights
while neighborhood goons from Hubert Selby
burp across the street and sit on benches
and say woo and woo and hey, baby, woo
the problem with grant money visibility
made miniature and tried out in life
and not too long after dark clean healthy
people on cycling dates bend front wheels
together and make decisions at intersection
but if people only know each other in health
they do not really know each other in sickness
which is the secret agony of sensible dull folks
sensible people sensible people we will miss you
with all defunded .gov-science labs cobwebbed
the only scientists have all gone plum-bats
the way the independents always go
no grandeur even if they are taller today
what is most important is to know each other
come nighttime ambition can sweat less
with enough cold subway air-conditioning
after the commuter train to the beach
like drying tortillas cool thighs aired
also between flat or arched foot and sandal
and movie theaters are good insulation too
but not as good as coming from The Sligo
because taller today can get into the hunch
that happiness will always begin to look empirical
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David Blair is the author of five books of poetry, and his forthcoming collection Social Comedies will be available from the University of Nevada Press as part of the Test Site series. He teaches in the MFA Writing Program at the University of New Hampshire.
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Shane Allison has published several chapbooks and collections of poetry including I Remember, Slut Machine, Sweet Sweat (Hysterical Books), and most recently I Want to Eat Chinese Food Off Your Ass (Dumpster Fire Press). His collage work has graced the pages of Shampoo, Unlikely Stories, Pnpplzine.com, Palavar Arts Magazine, the Southeast Review, South Broadway Review, Postscript Magazine and others. Allison has also edited many anthologies of gay erotica, and written two novels, You’re the One I Want and Harm Done.
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