True and False and What's in the Middle
by Mercedes Lawry

  1. Does the block of wood suggest the artificial?
  2. A construction of odd materials
  3. that might resemble carbon or a neural lapse
  4. or tears. Dreams in rapid-fire with wry narratives.
  5. Civilization at this or that stage.
  6. Long, thin pieces next to squat,
  7. the giving nature of wood, fluidity of grain.
  8. What difference to grief or the final embrace?
  1. The block of wood and then,
  2. a floor, a table, a bed.
  3. The block of wood with no roots
  4. for we’ve swallowed the roots,
  5. and can feel them working
  6. their way down, tender and ferocious.
Packingtown Review – Vol.5, Fall 2013

Mercedes Lawry has published poetry in such journals as Poetry, Nimrod, Poetry East, The Saint Ann's Review, and others. Twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize, she's published two chapbooks, most recently "Happy Darkness". She's also published fiction, essays and stories and poems for children. She lives in Seattle.

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