Mannequin Envy
quarterly journal of poetic and visual art
Featured Artist:
Theresa Pfarr
More artwork by:
Cecilia Ferreira
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C L Bledsoe
Thieves
1
Morning comes with a thud of light
slapping
the ground awake
and it’s out into the back yard
to piss on the neighbors’ hydrangeas
This is not an act of war
there are men: little men in my mirror
I can hear them giggle
in the bathroom mirror
mornings
when I shake
And I hear conversations
late at night
I had weeks ago
repeated in German
and I don’t even know German
2
When I sit in my kitchen
sip hot tea to loosen
the life in me get it flowing
like a breeze
I see crows eating my cucumbers
eating my baby tomato plants
I planted before I knew
nothing grew here
Then at the bus stop
they’re up there smirking
on the power lines
on the tree branches
but they’re clever they are not men
that’s why I can see them
I’ve never seen a man here
3
On the bus you’ve seen them hiding
on the walls same with the trains
they hide on the walls call themselves doctors
call themselves Hamburger Mc. King
call themselves Technical Institutes
They’re stealing from me
trying
stealing from you too
trying to scream your mind away
They know
you’d expect them to come
through your ears
that’s why they go
through your eyes
Bio: CL Bledsoe has work in over 150 journals including Margie, Nimrod, Clackamas and previously in Mannequin Envy. His first collection, Anthem, is forthcoming later this year, He's an editor for Ghoti Magazine
