Found

I'd like to be who I am with her all the time. So brilliant,
she tells the nurse who freshens the bed. She just knows

where everything is. Without looking, I can slip my hand
inside her purse and pull out a tin of face powder.

She'll grope the empty bed
and by the time she begins to reach toward the table,

I've placed a Q-tip glistening with mineral oil
in her fingers. I want her to believe

this is the way things are now;
everything she needs hangs in the air, waiting.

If you want to know the truth, you can't trust me
with anything. I lose things no one should be able to lose:

a young brother, a mother.
But I can speak as slowly and loudly as you need.

I can make a book shout; surge us far into the chapter
and when your snoring wakes you, I'll jump back to the beginning.

You'll ask me if I've done this before.
I can press the call button and make women appear at the door.

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Copyright © 2011 Stephanie Levin All rights reserved
from Green Mountains Review
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission