Vox Populi
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Lisa Fay Coutley | Shelter: Michigan
Ben says it’s like any other house except twelve men share two rooms in simple bunks not unlike barracks & every morning he must trudge the gauntlet of friendly, extended booze bottles bagged & begging him not to focus on the fall leaves last-gasping en masse on the walk to the gas station where he’ll relieve himself & scrub his teeth with balled paper toweling until his gums bleed or half the Happy Birthday song. He wants me to circle yes or no because his life has become unsafe & what he needs most is an ankle break woman who’ll open the fridge now & again so he can see the light still exists inside them both. I won’t tell him yesterday I lost a patch of hair on the top of my scalp but refuse to name it until I know if it’s not alone. Cryptic Crop Circle. Solar System in Bald. He wants me to believe he met Jesus in Memphis after his car went dead & he forgot & forgot & forgot to feed his dog. He has provided temporary refuge from rain & rape, he says, but why shouldn’t we be each other’s cover. Why not disguise the facts, adopt new identities, have each other’s backs. He promises to aim his gun at anyone who tries to harm a hair on my pretty little head. He can pet name me. Baby Great Lakes. Tiny Idea Cluster. Little Target Practice.
Copyright 2020 Lisa Fay Coultey
Lisa Fay Coutley’s books include tether (Black Lawrence Press, 2020). She is the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and Associate Professor of Poetry & Creative Nonfiction at the University of Nebraska Omaha Writer’s Workshop.
Vox Populi 
Wow. I especially like the pet names.
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Yeah, I do too…
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the word in italiano è “spiazzante”
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How can you translate the word “displaceable” into English to say something that forces you or invites you out of your normal reading tracks?
Great poetry, thanks.
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“unsettling” perhaps?
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Yes, I like it. Thanks.
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Such an absolutely original, taut, moving & haunting poem! Bravo!
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I agree. the poem captures the injustice in our society in very real and immediate terms.
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