MiPOesias Magazine

Dr. Claudia K. Grinnell's publishing credits include numerous on-line and print journals such as New Orleans Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, Exquisite Corpse, Minnesota Review, California Review, Greensboro Review, Bottomfish, River Oak Review, Blue Moon Review, Janus Head, as well as a full-length collection titled Conditions Horizontal (Missing Consonant Press, 2001). She is the 2005 recipient of the Louisiana Division of the Arts Fellowship as well as the associate editor of turnrow, a print publication affiliated with The University of Louisiana at Monroe.

The Hayflick Limit

But shopping lists build silk roads: the outside
Shot, the glittering
Eye. We discuss the joy in mud
Ville, men bigger than doughboys. We, that is
You and me, not them who’d sell
Their mothers Sunday mornings. Strangers
Who climb up a flight, inspect the kitchen,
Water damage, termites, too—mushroom
Soup, a jar filled with browned tea, butts
Floating atop. The balance’s already
Zero. His will is hard to accept.

The Explainer

I.

For reasons known only to me and a handful of others

II.

I have the answers: common
Screams. Pistols at dawn, if you disagree

III.

Men with cats. Men who refer to themselves
As we. Men strangling dragons
On their forearms. The people, women two by two,
Have been invited to shop
For large selections of bombs and different
Rockets (surface-to-air,
Surface-to-surface) and other weaponry
Available at reduced price

IV.

All that.

V.

And let’s call it a miracle then: all that
Which happens only once.
Which makes the way
Straight for anyone.
Which smacks of posing
For the perfect picture—dog in lap.
Competitive mode: to be
The fastest in a race of one. Each
Story has its own truth—the power
Of imagination briefly suspends
Reason, and Billy commits the first act.
It’s probably
Murder. It’s a tool, of sorts, which can be written
Off as opportunity costs.