DOUBLE WIDE & SENTIMENTALITY
People who talk shit about trailer parks
have never listened to the Titanic sound-
track in a double wide—and I could talk
in pretty diction about the vaulted ceiling
like ship’s bow, the symphony’s phrases
hovering there, but that would not separate
us from locus and legacy, the mythos
of low-income housing and its characters:
the aunt who had her first abortion at 13
and child at 15; the feral children, a dirty,
towheaded neighbor boy who dragged
around his wares in a trash can—captive
garter snakes, their underbellies glittering
—his filthy hands under the skirt of your
double wide for 50 cents a pop. I could
talk about the tethered dogs, beached cars,
and ignored fruit trees collectively rotting
in our front yards without saying entropy,
and I could state that, for a CD’s length,
we were more than just steel and sinking.
But then again, people who talk shit about
trailer parks have clearly never listened
to the Titanic soundtrack in a double wide.
SHAPE: AN ETYMOLOGY
shape ║ˈshāp║ verb 1: to adapt in shape so as to fit neatly and closely a: as in at seven years old, I wanted Barbie’s streamlined thighs and mistook my own muscle for fat b: as in onset, second-grade body dysmorphia c: as in my concerned mother took me to the pediatrician—he held my hands and looked me in the eye to deliver affirmation, you are beautiful d: as in I blinked back tears and thought liar; 2: to make fit for (as a particular use or purpose) a: as in the time my classmate, Billy, pointed to my 13-year-old chest and exclaimed, I’ve got bigger boobs than you! b: as in I did not match the high-gloss measurements of his centerfolds; 3: to take on or approach a mature or definite form a: as in the woman calling out to my twentysomething sisters and me, Twenty years ago you white girls had pancake butts and no hips b: as in her qualification, I’m not trying to scare you or anything, and I am not gay c: as in additional qualification, But damn, you three have hips, thighs, and booties d: as in she diagrammed our silhouettes e: as in pears and appropriation f: as in a sick physiognomic analogy—black is to pear as white is to rectangle g: as in the source of this analogy was understood with her first and final question, You all have the same daddy? h: as in suggestion of ontology rooted in man i: as in I refuse to accept Adam as origin; 4: obsolete: ordain, decree a: as in the first undressing by the boy I loved b: as in I told him, I look better on paper.
Emma Murray holds an MFA from Oklahoma State University and received an Academy of American Poets Prize in 2016. Her works have appeared in or are forthcoming from The New Territory, The RS 500 and elsewhere. She lives in Iowa and teaches at Iowa State University. You can follow her on her Instagram and Facebook @emmacmurray.
Photo on Foter.com