photo: ralph murre
OTHER ACTS
by Michael Gessner
After the carnivorous business
was completed out on the savannah
or in elegant suburban bedrooms,
after this, all this
memory forgot, forgave itself once more
as though wantonness & other acts
were sudden rends, small distortions
to say this never really occurred,
to conceal a family disagreement
so the other conversation could continue
like a pair of lovers among ruins
on a wine-colored evening
when all is agreeable & everything
said is certain.
~ first published in
Wisconsin Review
and subsequently in Beast Book (BlazeVOX)
