"Art only makes things happen in reflection ..."

Art only makes things happen
in reflection, a moon lingers
its borrowed light in the contented
dark, stars are strung together
to resemble gods and animals.
Our object lacks grandeur, born
from a folk culture and cast
by cheap labor. The "Wedding Night"
mirrors our existence, a piece
of imitation Staffordshire.
We bought it as a gag, before
we fell again. After our third
marriage (to each other) I look
up from my knees and find
the peasant in the piece
in the same position, so awkward
he seems there for the first time
in his life. The wife licks her lips,
her mind far from ideals, hands
unfastening her bra, and hopes
her lovable dreamer seeks
grace in her peach skin.

Michael Graber



Michael Graber writes, plays music, rasies children, and works as an editor and writer in his native Memphis, and is content never to leave the county. His work has appeared and is forthcoming in a variety of online and print publications. Six new works are available at The Avatar Review.