corey mesler

2 poems


**


The New Identity is Aces


Like a permanent mask,
like a door always open,
like a breadcrumb path
before the monsters arrive,
the new identity is aces.
At night there is pressure
to be one’s self. At first
light there is hunger, thirst.
Like a bomb worn as a vest,
like a buttonhole, like a
hat, like an undying squint,
friends, I remember you all.
I’ll call if I need you.


**


Label Instructions


Shake can well.
Tears can shake.
Wells can tear.
Label instructions.
Open your heart.
Hearts can well.
Tear the bells.
Shake the heart.
Lie still. Don’t
shake. Let tears
come. Don’t lie.
Can the label.
Shake instructions.
Label the heart.
Tears can shake.
Wells can fill.
Shake the heart.
Label instructions.


**

return to sawbuck 3.2

**
Corey Mesler has published in numerous journals and anthologies. He has published two novels, Talk: A Novel in Dialogue (2002) and We Are Billion-Year-Old Carbon (2006). He has also published numerous chapbooks and one full-length poetry collection, Some Identity Problems. His book of short stories, Listen, will appear in 2009. He has been nominated for a Pushcart numerous times, and one of his poems was chosen for Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac. With his wife, he runs Burke’s Book Store in Memphis TN. He can be found at www.coreymesler.com.