Three Poems

The Carnival


I once had a job
at the carnival.
At the carnival
I was a woman.
I just sat there,
being a woman.
You could come up
and ask me questions
about being a woman.
Or possibly
other aspects of my person.
It was a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
to ask a woman.
One child came up to me
and asked me
Are you a woman
and I said yes.
One child came up to me
and asked me
if I liked having breasts.
I said
They’re as weird to me
as they are to you.
The line moved.
I did some calculus.
I refused to juggle.
I did not drink Mountain Dew concoctions
or stand on my head.
I wed two dolls
and told two high school sweethearts to use protection.
I told them I could see a rainbow before it happens.
I admitted I don’t know what it’s like to be dead.
My pool of deep honesty was open to all.
The more questions I answered
the more children seemed to come.
Soon the dunk tank guy
threatened not to surface.
Tensions rose in the big top.
On my smoke break someone cruising in a car
asked me about my vagina
and I said
You’ll never have enough tickets for that one.
Kids went back to school,
adults to email.
The carnival turned into a ball of fluff.
Processed cotton
wisped away over some hill.
I fell asleep
on a warm summer day

Careful on the stairs


there is a little beetle here
it has a little yellow marking
near its shoulder
I can put it on your hand
so you can feel it

The Bank


My mom named me after a bank.
I guess she thought it would be good luck
But I don’t know who for.

The bank is doing well.
It used to be on one hill,
Now it’s on all twelve.
Every once in a while a teller reminds me of my name,
That it’s funny,
And I agree.

There’s nobody in the world who isn’t reflected at least a little bit
In a little something. Me, I look up at a bank and see me
Even when inside there’s someone else.
And from the hill, I see the whole hillside.

I own it all. Yes, I bet I funded that roof
And made that hairline a little thicker this spring.
And I bet I bought that TV I see the game on
Thinly through the window.
Bought the game too.
And while I didn’t buy that hawk springing
Down into the hapless grass
Let’s not pretend
I wouldn’t if I could.