Vol 1 No 1 2007

Meena Alexander Judith ArcanaJason Guriel
Steven HeightonRay HsuTanis MacDonald
Yvonne MurphyAlicia OstrikerRussell Thornton
Priscila Uppal Mark Yakich

Agoraphobe

Care

Elegy without Water

The Etiology of Fainting

For A Young Giant

Sundown

A Comment on the Poems

The Etiology of Fainting

as a radical you
             are a disappointment             but it’s all relative

in the harem you are nothing                        but a scandal in the vicarage

             loose the stays of your corset     
                                              (whales of seven seas miss their bones)

             teach buttons to march up your boots
a regiment                                phalanx of palaver

             in the time it takes             to stretch a canvas             or a dress
                                       on a dummy                  the time it takes to mix oils
                          the minute it takes to look
                                                                               and measure

                   the body melts and you can’t

            get air into your lungs
                                                      your browning vision is not the browning version
                                             a faint
                                                           ring in your ears reminds you
what you wanted
                            was ten minutes                           to yourself

Tanis MacDonald