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Poetry After Gregory Crewdson, by Charles Malone

6/24/2021

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An Eclipse of Moths

when I first see her pale skin
and the dark art of her tattoos
I am uncertain how much of her 
beauty belongs to her youth
how much to her nakedness
to parts of her which will depart
or parts of her which will linger

around her, upholstery left to weather
a fifth of a fifth of bourbon still
in the bottle, tires stacked on tires
each ruined thing made poorer
in contrast to the source of light
her friends in casual awe of breasts
a wealth made richer
by these decaying reminders of
what is the opposite of intimate

​**

Red Star Express

where globalization and blue collar 
diverge, where paint peels, where summer 

smells like sealcoating and cut grass, 
we listen to a shopping cart

rattle against the cracks in sidewalks,
we hear a baby’s cries and the shoo, shoo, shoo,

at the intersection of voyeurism and empathy
the street lights hum, when the venn circles

of exploitation and love create pointed oval
ellipses — shaded with nostalgia, with memory,

with future — we listen to sparrows hatching 
under the a.c. A car rumbles to a stop 

and the boys joke and shame each other
as they ride their bicycles past the fire

you know you want to fuck her
flush-faced, rolling through the intersection 

of youth and something else, rolling
—he doesn’t know if he can ever tell them--

rolling over poisoned soil where you can be sure
the all quiet brick factory is/was westinghouse

**

Redemption Center

shirtless before
gap-toothed vertical 
blinds of a punched-in-the-mouth 
storefront, Queen Anne’s 
lace cautiously judges ribs
and belly, a blue bicycles’ 
broke spoke abandonment
causes you to wonder
what contemplation
is possible when--


then wiggle your toes
in the twin caves of too-big work boots
on the shore of a red
petalled parking lot puddle
after the rain
you take a breath and know
crabapples are blossoming
nearby—is this enough—close 
then open your hands
redeem, redemption 
then those tricky prepositions
from and for

**

The Taxi Depot
​

oh god, the rain
you say during
the fragrant 
moment it reaches dirt
water softens
not yet soaking
fabric, and we
are woven
by the smell
detergent meets dandelion
and tonight
we will gather 
on the grass
beneath the water tower
watch the persieds 
and defy gravity

**
​
An Eclipse of Moths

we arrange what no one else wants
recreate the space in our homes
where we ought to but can’t
feel comfortable, where all the furniture
suggests we might be at ease but 
heavy smoke and tired tones of voice
place the room itself out of reach
a coffee table, an ottoman, a sofa,
the sky and shelter from the sky,
we drag the armchair over gravel
asking does it look right here?
how ‘bout here? until we are tired, bored 
with the escapade, you tell her 
she looks beautiful, she says 
with an uncertain degree of tenderness, 
that you look hurt, then
hands stroke the side of your head
fingers in your hair along your scalp
light spills from your lips
and you float up into the air

​Charles Malone

Author's note: "In 2020-2021, the photographer Gregory Crewdon’s images offered me a way to travel when I couldn’t. A chance to meet people, or, remember. Each photo is an invitation to ekphrasis, persona, lyricism and other ways of attending to their experience. In all, writing to them became a way to make in answer to my inability to make. Sometimes, I returned to the same image and wrote again. The troubles, joys, and doubts of my own places and people, my own “here,” were held up to my imagination by this remarkable work and I am grateful."

Charles Malone is a poet and teacher in Kent, Ohio. His full-length collection Working Hypothesis is out with Finishing Line Press. And his chapbook Questions About Circulation was selected for publication by Driftwood Press as part of the Adrift Chapbook Series. He edited the collection A Poetic Inventory of Rocky Mountain National Park with Wolverine Farm Publishing and has work recently published or forthcoming in Hotel Amerika, The Best of Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac, The Sugar House Review, The Dunes Review, and Saltfront. Charles now works at the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University coordinating community outreach programs.
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