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Laura Minor

Recidivism

The Black Door from the West by Paul Nicolaus

Your bullpen jumpsuit was bright orange
on the morning I told the judge
.               you were a good man.

Months later, the terrible applause of pool balls
rolled through me as I walked home,
and the heft of summer kept me
from flinging myself into trees.
.               The women on the street came in shapes
like the smooth, brown bodies of guitars.

Everyone wants a love to crawl back to,
everyone wants to forgive the rose for dying.

You used to make all our friends
.               jealous of my laughter,
turned every room vignette.

 

About the writer:
Most recently, Laura Minor’s poetry has appeared in or is forthcoming from Burrow Press – Fantastic Floridas, Queen Mob’s Teahouse, Berfrois, Hobart, Spring Gun Press, and elsewhere. She earned an MFA in poetry from the Sarah Lawrence College and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in poetry at Florida State University.

Image: The Black Door from the West by Paul Nicolaus (1904-1945). Oil on canvas. 60 x 49.5 cm. 1931. By free license.

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