Dreamy, feral, and sensual, “I Climb Down the Tree One-Handed and in Another Life” is but one of 5 magical poems by Jessie Janeshek included in our Fall 2014 issue.

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I CLIMB DOWN THE TREE ONE-HANDED
AND IN ANOTHER LIFE

to varnish trains and paint a buck by number
my right eye twitching anthems
obsessed with melon braids.

Fucking left me empty
but I miss that icy month
handprints on my ass
pink stilettos under glass
and, afterwards, two capsules.

Third date I scaled the gate
slammed the Dodge into the slag heap
glowed in neon panties, my best paper bra.

The rain starts up again.
I scrub the wild dog yellow
name a concrete goddess
Our Mother of the Birdbath.

She says the world’s no worse here
it’s just I stay awake
half-cracked and waiting on the meat truck.

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JESSIE JANESHEK‘s first book of poems is Invisible Mink (Iris Press, 2010). An Assistant Professor of English and the Director of Writing at Bethany College, she holds a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and an M.F.A. from Emerson College. She co-edited the literary anthology Outscape: Writings on Fences and Frontiers (KWG Press, 2008).