| Secrets of the Underwear Drawer Poem by Donald Illich Published in Lily, May, 2006 What keeps me up at night are thoughts that unbutton themselves in mental drawers I slammed shut years ago, soldered tight, burned neurons. Did she? And with who? Why? Have I really lost track of love’s capital, misplaced old names of all its villages? That’s the business of commercials, repeating their catchphrases throughout my dream life, overzealous employees even bosses hate and wish they could fast-forward into space. “She’ll never forget a diamond.” What if that’s all she remembers? After returning from the moon in my electric Elvis costume, I see her at a pawn shop negotiating affection’s value at pennies per carat. I slam a giant sardine against the display window, cracking it. I let her know I can help a gambler with the shakes by tossing a flaming matchbook with my name on it toward her strawberry pinwheel eyes. Getting up from bed, still not sure if I’m on earth, I dial her number, hear it’s been changed. In my brain something unzips. •••••
Donald Illich has published poetry in The Iowa Review, Fourteen Hills, Cold Mountain Review, Pinyon, Roanoke Review, and New Zoo Poetry Review. His work will be included in future issues of Passages North, Nimrod, Lit, Del Sol Review, failbetter.com, and The Sulphur River Literary Review. He received a Prairie Schooner scholarship to the 2006 Nebraska Summer Writer’s Conference. |