The Adoration of the Poet
There were faces soft with time.
There were hands roughened
and tender. And there was the
poet at a table, receiving his
adoration. The night was baked
starlight and candy. Later
Heather and Destiny wandered
into the negro dawn and the
poet went to bed where he made
the whole thing up again,
rewriting even the holiest parts.
Mountain/Man
I went to the mountain
because my life had
locked. Mountain looked
down on me and said,
Son of Adam, I
am feeling small today.
I am wee as a vole.
Open my door if
you will but the brood-
ing will not be good
for either of us. I told
the mountain I under-
stood. On the way
home I listed all the ways
I was not like the moun-
tain. Number one, I am
alone with myself
rarely. Number two, I
can move about most
days and my breathing
tells me how far. There
was a third reason
not recorded here. That
night I worried about the
mountain, its reticence,
its reliance on men for its
purpose, and oh its open heart.
Corey Mesler has published in numerous anthologies and journals including Poetry, Gargoyle, Good Poems American Places, and Esquire/Narrative. He has published 8 novels, 4 short story collections, numerous chapbooks, and 4 full-length poetry collections. His new novel, Memphis Movie, is from Soft Skull Press. He’s been nominated for the Pushcart many times, and 2 of his poems were chosen for Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac. With his wife he runs a bookstore in Memphis. He can be found at coreymesler.wordpress.com.