Two Poems By Aaron Fagan

by Mark Bibbins, Editor

PUGILIST

Way before the title fights,
I dressed in my older sister’s
Clothes I stole and danced
And hummed and kicked up
Dust for neighborhood boys — 
As they sat in Hawkin’s field,
Rolling corn silk in newspaper
To smoke, while I, in reverie,
Began a whorling version of
“Are You Washed in the Blood?”
For the last smithereens of me
To be born beyond a god of mine.

A BEND IN THE REED

I am in a gymnasium full
Of adult Eddie Munsters

And one boy dressed up
As a hypodermic needle —

The soul appoints us all
A world and he is the god

Of painting me into a
Corner of an unfinished

Sketch spiraling out while
The sun is shining down.

Aaron Fagan is the author of Garage (Salt Publishing, 2007) and Echo Train (2010).

You will find more poems here. You may contact the editor at [email protected].