Corey Mesler

 

 

 

 

    More About the Hat

     

     

             and when they placed it on his head

             he began to dance around.

     

     

    He went out

    in it

    because it was protection.

    Because it

    kept the bad things

    away from his head.

     

    But it failed him.

    He went out

    and was stunned to find

    the world

    closing like a fist.

     

    Still, when he returned

    home, he

    took it off and,

    tenderly almost,

    as if he were blanketing a child,

    he placed

    the hat near the door.

     

     

     

    Gardeners

     

    He sets one foot down

    like stepping into a garden.

    It s his home.

    Somewhere, among the fragile

    cabbages and kale,

    are children he birthed in his

    thirties. He s

    a wishful man. He s over the

    moon with feelings.

    And a wife! Here she comes,

    walking the same way he

    does, as if in a garden of glass.