16
Two Poems
by Brett DeFries
from Ezekiel
If there is a face lined with comfort
for me to press my cheek against,
then I am not to pray for that at all.
There was a time when I was afraid
enough of a far away sea that I dreamed
such a face wanted me to live
inside it. It would say it’s ok
to be stupid. You’re like a dog
that doesn’t know why it is sad.
If I could be a dog, I think then
I’d be happy. I think then I’d believe
heaven is a dirty bowl of water.
from Ezekiel
I caught Monica
looking for me.
Then she got depressed
and fell asleep.
Where do you
keep going, she had asked.
I left when Monica
was drowning in
a bag of seeds.
The sound of my
name was filling
in her mouth.
Ezekiel, she said.
Ezekiel, the seeds repeated.