Two Poems
A Litany of Pears
Fill my basket with the quiet blazing of the hills
at sunrise, and with the whispering blackberry bush.
There is nothing more silent above me than the figs
warming in the air suspended by a branch.
The pear tree fell last night in a storm. Now red pears
are scattered on the ground and rolling into my arms
to be carried back to the kitchen, silent, ripening still.
The Privilege
There’s a hole in my pocket
where I put your ring.
It tumbles down my pant leg,
catches in my shoe,
and I limp to the office.
My boss holds open the door
for me in pity, poor thing,
she says
and I hear her say it
on purpose.
Just a pebble, I explain
in a tone of apology
that leaps
beyond my control,
taking a guess about what’s in my shoe,
as I don’t know yet
about the hole in my pocket.
She shows no recognition
that she knows who I am,
but with a glance
tells me
we have a little secret,
a lie—the pebble—
and she’s letting me get away
with it.
Her face says I shouldn’t worry,
she knows I invented it
to preserve my
dignity,
and she’s offering to help me
keep up the pretense
that I’m as healthy and whole as she,
that only a pebble in my shoe counts
for my problems.
I recognize her expression
because I have made the same one,
many times
playing with children,
going along with their make-believe
while giving a wink
to their parents.
Somehow I survive until lunch
astounded and dazed by
the smallest smack
upside the head,
a brief
understanding of
how the world works,
while the adults, maximally wise
and sober, and because
they understand from their own experience
the unequal
cruel distribution of force,
go about setting the world right,
any way they can, as they see fit.
The first thing I did in the lobby was sit down
and take off my shoe,
surprised to see your ring
clatter on the floor.
My boss, at the elevator,
looked around her feet for the sound.
Steven H. Turrill is the editor of Pine Peak Press. His work is forthcoming in AGNI and RHINO, and he was recently Shortlisted for the inaugural Bob Hicok Fellowship from Only Poems. He lives in Eugene, Oregon.
