And who’s to stop us? The twin cities of barrel
and pepperbox? You are the Aegean to my Marmara;
in you, seas burn for names. In you, a little elbow
noodle wants for a plain, narrow cupboard.
We have it all. And then some. And the plainest
thing is this: marry me. Port arms! Time, and the
eye of a needle, metaphor, metaphor. As a pelt,
wrap it, cinch it, belt it, praise its luster.
Lilah Hegnauer is the author of Dark Under Kiganda Stars (Ausable Press, 2005), which won an honorable mention for the 2007 Library of Virginia Literary Award. Her poems have appeared in FIELD, AGNI Online, The Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, and elsewhere. She teaches in the English Department at James Madison University. For more information, visit www.lilahhegnauer.com. (updated 5/2011)