3 / Little Poetry Projects (Q-Tips)
Little Poetry Projects
Q-Tips are soft small clouds in a glass jar
but on bad days we smell the sulphur lightning
and hear thunder when we scrub our ears for wax.
“Can you taste the wax?” said Simon,
our cat. “Yes” said one of us. “No” said the others.
Simon has it all figured out now. That poet,
he thinks, knows so little about what matters;
she’ll be one of the first to go. Comme ci comme ça.
On good days we stroll the boardwalk at Boulevard Park
and I think of my Danish grandmother’s nickname
for me, which is a secret I tell nobody
although Simon knows it and under correct circumstances
he would talk. We lie on the beach, collect rocks
with white rings. It is good luck to throw them
at passing children and if one of us is ever strong
enough to hit a cloud we will control the rain forever.