Matthea Harvey

Toe the Line with Me

We needed water & frozen water

for the party. I chose you to two-step

 

with but the downstairs chandelier

stayed still, its prisms prim.

 

Consider this: if sunfish

& ducks compete for the same bit

 

of bread, at any moment their mouths

might meet. That’s how my mother

 

explained the Other, told me to hedge

my bets, furl wish-scrolls into

 

the topiary.  Still I had questions

about Life & the Afterlife. You

 

looked in through the screendoor.

I sat next to my ex.

Matthea Harvey

 Matthea  Harvey

Matthea Harvey's latest book of verse is Modern Life (Graywolf, 2007).  She teaches poetry at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in Brooklyn, NY.


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