Corey Mesler: An Engineer Making the Ominous Days Smaller

Transformation

My wife’s castoff pajama
bottoms lie curled
on the unmade bed like
some kind of sensuous
cat. Alone at home they
startle me as if I have
walked into a forbidden
room. I could pick them
up and smell the warm
goodness of her but I let
them lie. Later when I
return, determined to
clutch them this time, they
are gone, and the day
becomes one of reflection
and tough, spontaneous grace.


Wee one

Wee one,
voice so

shrill I
almost can-

not per-
ceive it,

nor can I
find the

words to
answer,

here in
the castle,

so far
from your
pinpoint eyes,

your mouth
an obelus.


The day is big

The day is big
and
I am small.
I find
myself after losing
so much
else. You are there
and you’re
holding out your
hand,
in your palm
an egg.
I want
to talk to you about
the change
but it is not
essential. You are
here. Even
when the day is so
big
I fall from its height.



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. He’s been nominated for many Pushcarts, 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 https://coreymesler.wordpress.com.