A little spittle of pink
fell from the bag of organs
split from the stomach
of the mouse just after the brick
came down and the satisfying snap
of its neck echoed through the alleyway
behind the house we’ve come to call our home
ricocheting sound waves off the silver
shopping carts and downed tree limbs
and liberated bits of cement foundation
discarded little goose shits
in the ever-expanding urban pit of waste
ricocheting past the drunks
and the men smoking weed
all the way to the liquor store.
I brought the brick down.
I brought it down knowing
I would bring it again if needed.
Then I brought the shovel
and shoveled the mouse
into the garbage along with a divot of dirt
so that even the shovel would not know
what it carried. Dear Love, down the street
there is a garden of hydrangea
and it is there you’ll find beauty if you need it.
Steven Kleinman is the author of Life Cycle of a Bear, winner of the 2019 Philip Levine Poetry Prize. His poems have appeared in the American Poetry Review, the Gettysburg Review, the Iowa Review, Oversound, American Literary Review, Tikkun, and elsewhere. He has received support from the Bread Loaf Writers' Conferences. Steven earned his MFA from the University of Maryland. He currently serves as a contributing editor at the American Poetry Review, where he co-hosts the American Poetry Review Podcast. He coordinates the Art Alliance Writers' Workshop at the University of the Arts, where he teaches poetry.
Twitter: @stevedkleinman
Instagram: @steven.kleinman
Stevenkleinmanpoetry.com