ISSN 1543-6063

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Tammy Trendle

Everyone has a hidden talent.

Right now, a man walks out
of Lasseter’s Tavern to retrieve
an electric guitar from his trunk.
It’s lunchtime. On a Tuesday.
He’s wearing a polo shirt,
grey slacks, black shoes.
He’s showing it to a woman
in a brown suit. She smokes
a cigarette. This is her talent,

to be interested in his. Just before
lunch, I tell my boss I have poems
to be published next month. He says,
You going to let me read them?
Yes, I say, knowing full well

I won’t. And he’ll forget.
 

Poem About 2 Beds

I prefer a room with two beds usually one
for sleeping and one for sex which is always
the one closest to the door, my body the body

inside his, the stillness of air moving
behind curtains, feels like my clothes are
too tight from traveling. Drawers

stare straight ahead, wooden knobs wanting
to be filled. They remember the ones before us
and the ones before them. I imagine

they’re all married. While we never have time
to unpack. Especially if there’s a couch
closer to the door.

Tammy Foster Trendle resides in Atlanta, GA where she works as a litigation paralegal. She is also the mom to an amazing 4-year-old boy.