JOHNMICHAEL SIMON POETRY

lately something has

gotten into her again

something…or someone?

miss beepee…

 

it’s like her face is rubber

pushed into a different mask

eyes smoke, tongue out of scabbard

horses’ nostrils

 

we’re used to the weather,

how winter arrives suddenly every year

one day it’s sunny

full of summer’s joy

the next

black clouds; raincoat season

 

yet miss beepee

catches us by surprise

every time

 

we try to examine the record

go back carefully

over the last few days

what could we have said or done

to call her back?

 

and we try to find parallels:

second childhood,

Dr. Jekkyl and Mr. Hyde,

a virus,

that’s been lurking around,

nothing fits

except that name…miss beepee

 

so we tiptoe around

count to ten, then to a hundred

go for a long walk

talk only to her dog

 

and then we get up one morning

and everything’s back to normal

sun, birds, smiles

isn’t life beautiful…

still, somehow each time

we forget

that somewhere, hidden away

lurks her rubber face, waiting