Jordan Stempleman
The Amateurs
When I finally began disappearing, I decided
not that I was real but that I was somewhat enough.
I was in a park. The imprint in the grass
from the back of my head was there.
A child sat down in where I wasn’t really
any longer, when told to sit down by her father.
He handed her a Go-GURT. We ate
Go-GURT together and slowly breathed in and out.
There was a dog, off-leash, that came up to us
and wanted what we wanted.
We resisted. And we screamed. We waited forever
for help, and help came. We returned, somewhat, to enjoying
ourselves. We sat there until it got dark
having no idea what a sunset was.
A Successful Marriage
Before the arrival
there is a returning to example
a green coast
southerned calm
a sex mattress
hitting daylight
on the floor
I dance
as one mistake
after another
but you see muppet
you see the confidant
within you
no error
no warning
of we’re on our own now
just the bash
and the together
the rom-com
and the breathalyzer
before
the I do
(from Spilt, forthcoming from Green Linden Press)
