Track 23: Talking Back by David P. Miller
golden shovel, after Laurie Anderson
Yes, I remember how we put
that life jacket on. It was your
urgent idea. How our hands
fumbled with faux mudras over
glossy headshots of your
many loves. Again, let’s use our eyes:
There’s your glory cliff. Go ahead, jump
from it. Everyone’s cleared out
of your sight anyway. You dream of
matrimony cross-country, forget the
need for a rescue plane.
There’s your random bed. There,
the frowsy single pillow. Where is
your magicking crystal? No
liftoff possible without a pilot.
Yes, I remember the affirmations you
etched into calendar blanks. We are
two of the same man, you dead but not
enough to leave those weary years alone.
David P. Miller’s collection, Bend in the Stair, was published by Lily Poetry Review Books in 2021. Sprawled Asleep was published by Nixes Mate Books in 2019. His poems have received Best of the Net and Pushcart nominations, and have appeared in Meat for Tea, Lily Poetry Review, Reed Magazine, LEON Literary Review, Solstice, Salamander, Tar River Poetry, Kestrel, Vincent Brothers Review, and Nixes Mate Review, among other journals. His poems “Interview” and “And You” were included in an issue of Magma (UK) focused on teaching poetry to secondary school students. He lives in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, with his wife, the visual artist Jane Wiley. He serves on the New England Poetry Club’s Board of Directors, and is a member of the Jamaica Pond Poets.
