Justin Hyde, 2 poems

this morning as we walk along the iowa river

she wants a promise of forever.

i want to tell her: if your ex-husband put down the bottle

i think you would go back to him; the way we sometimes spend

all day arguing about a speck of dust in a pot of gold exhausts me;

the way you treat waiters-waitresses—& your own children

terrifies me; all these things ossify

my mind

into an ineffable equation

yielding uncertainty.

i want to put all that

in the palm of my hand

gently blow it

into her ear.

but i’ve learned

my words

are often scalpels.

so i bend down

pick up a flat purple rock

off the sandbar:

one-two-three-four

it skips

over clear

water.

—Justin Hyde

you-gorgeous strange-life

full of words like:

cozen

coxswain

& dragoon:

thumb-nail moon

dappled moon

three-sixty moon savage as owl:

indonesian women

southern women

midwestern women:

hearts like

teepees

thighs like seals

in a polar bear’s

jaw.

—Justin Hyde

#JustineHyde