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Jakob Poem 4

I will leave the pills in their bottles, I will leave the bottles by my bed.

Joe Brown

The boy in the woods was a secret. My secret. My first real secret.

John Barth, Undergraduate Academic Adviser

Barth looked after his students beyond anything expected of him.

John Redding Goes to Sea

Thus John Redding grew to manhood, playing, studying and dreaming.

Judith and Holofernes

Sometimes I wonder if he—my father—looks back on that moment.

Just Going Out

I put my hand on my stomach and had an image of the melting snowman.

Karagiozis and the Four-Headed Beast

Takis brought down the demons that would pursue him the rest of his life.

Lagos

No one in Lagos slouches. Bravado pulsates through the room.

Learning to Write

I came to computers while trying to run away from literature.

Leenie

All my life, I’d been shy, and I wasn’t about to change that.

Let Him Go On, Mama

He spoke of the river’s origins as though telling of the birth of a god.

Let Me Stay with You

“It’s so unfair being accused of doing something you didn’t do.”

Linoleum

She was so beautiful and sweet to us. I remember she laughed a lot.

Little Me

I felt that Teddy occupied a range below acceptability, even among boys.

Little White Birds

I began to look for evidence of my father’s duplicity in his body.

Live Dangerously!

Live Dangerously! If you get hurt, the suffering will bring a new being.

Love among the Stacks

The library is inhabited by spirits that come out of the pages at night.

Lust

We drove, talking fast, fast, fast. He was always going for my zipper.

Magic Words

Their leader is a badly wounded boy in need of wounding others.

Memorial

He was shirtless and showcasing a large tattoo of the Twin Towers.

Mercury Pictures Presents

“Your mother’s fine,” Giuseppe said. “We’re all completely fine.”

Mikveh

The attendant instructs remember, immerse three times.

Military Ball

Fletcher was a squad leader. He ought to be able to get a girl.

Mother of Hope

Most people come to Africa because they are drawn to its misery.

Mud Time

Late March 2002. “Mud time”—so called in Mad River Junction, Ohio.

Museum and Other Poems

Some days it seems like enough to look in the glass for glazed relief.

Muslim Girlhood

I watched to see how the others lived, not knowing I was the Other.

My First Boy

He would sneak into my room, we would have sex, he would sneak out.

My Neighbors Make a Ghost

Even Medusa was beautiful once, before the sea, snakes, stone. Any chimera is regal if you turn a certain way. Even Medusa was beautiful.

Naked in the River

Susan Ann so wants to be that girl—daring, free, divinely sensual.