“The Desire Line” by Caley O’Dwyer

I was doing several things on a regular basis.
Finally, I woke up fascinated to a gurney,
diagnosed with “fears, doubt, dread, lies,” 
and a bump on the head. I felt delighted, 
light as hair. Although I would no longer be the host
of a network talk show, I knew the meaning of life, 

at least, how each day pops out of its pillbox 
to do a dance with death, scratch the itch
of the internet, eat the trinkets god has left. 

I get ready for bed. The night lowers
its gilded crane. Stars and other parcels try
descending, themselves end up upending.

Beside the funicular to the stratagem,
a ticket puncher offers M&M’s 
and financing for a credit card. 
There’s no place like home, the proverb says. 
And it’s true, the desire line could not be 
more gleaming, the fizzing chemicals more tastier.

Caley O’Dwyer’s poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Prairie Schooner, Cream City Review, Zocalo Public Square and other venues. He is a three-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize and has received the Academy of American Poets University Prize, as well as a Helene Wurlitzer grant for poetry. A painter (caleyodwyerart.com or https://www.instagram.com/caleyodwyer_art/) and psychotherapist (caleymft.com) in private practice, Caley has taught writing for twenty-five years in southern California universities, including UC Irvine, USC, and Antioch University Los Angeles. His first book, FULL NOVA, was published by Orchises Press in 2001. Other examples of his work can be found at caleyodwyer.com.

Featured Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash