Janet Holmes is author of F2f (U of Notre Dame, 2006), Humanophone (U of Notre Dame, 2001), The Green Tuxedo (U of Notre Dame, 1998), and The Physicist at the Mall (Anhinga, 1994). Her work has twice been included in the Best American Poetry anthologies. Her recent work appears in 1913, Cutbank, Gutcult, MiPoesias, and Practice. She is director of Ahsahta Press, an all-poetry publishing house at Boise State University, where she has taught in the MFA program since 1999.
Digital arrows
Eros pined
for P
(most beautiful)
spoiled boy
always got
. . .
c miss / rulebreak
sashed & tiara'd
& pardoned & wed
la la
like that
as if it weren't
a miracle
were meant for her
stepping out of
mortality
as from a dropped
towel
. . .
& even he forgot
what she knew
& just stood there gawking
neck breasts waist
her unplumbable gaze
hypnotized him—all of us—
being there like that
. . .
E could watch hours
while the white dust from P's fingertips
fell as she idly filed
. . .
she was
a "looker"
her name by then
almost generic
psychic
one who sees what can't
be seen
the future
secret thoughts
what gods do
. . .
she doesn't need his
stinking lamp
. . .
It's futile—
Months, she thinks, before
either of those two
will try anything
. . .
Baby,
I'm trying to concentrate,
says E
playing with his new
technology
(most beautiful)
spoiled boy
always got
. . .
c miss / rulebreak
sashed & tiara'd
& pardoned & wed
la la
like that
as if it weren't
a miracle
were meant for her
stepping out of
mortality
as from a dropped
towel
. . .
& even he forgot
what she knew
& just stood there gawking
neck breasts waist
her unplumbable gaze
hypnotized him—all of us—
being there like that
. . .
E could watch hours
while the white dust from P's fingertips
fell as she idly filed
. . .
she was
a "looker"
her name by then
almost generic
psychic
one who sees what can't
be seen
the future
secret thoughts
what gods do
. . .
she doesn't need his
stinking lamp
. . .
It's futile—
Months, she thinks, before
either of those two
will try anything
. . .
Baby,
I'm trying to concentrate,
says E
playing with his new
technology
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