Restaurant

Where it's very easy to get into the wrong line
& queue there & expectant & noisy & the hacking:
A cough, someone trying to get in & adjust the beads
To pop at different numbers--point five green
& one for blue, cone stabilized on its tip
& by the baseline, with vanilla or mint
Diluting into the table's pores. Pass me your fortune
On top of this spoon & embellished by jimmies.
A lobster targets your toe, standing even like snake eyes
Or quad threes as lucky. A starfish's sharp edges
Corner this particular blanket, because the breeze
Is here & strong & dispersing. Whole grain seed.
Picture of a cow in a prospect of flowers. Dalmatian's
Surprising stab at plot--it's a do-gooder, my favorite,
On our ride not only back to the horses, but workbench,
Direct mail, the witchcraft stirring your viscous soup,
Meddling, eleven of them, back in the corner.
We'll always outprice the little one; I've never met
Her before, but see the scripts she reads on television.
Caves where the draft sends her are graciously hurtin' &
A perfect place for giraffes.
Three ice tea & the wave of the future.
















Office Supplies

Where behavior            Angling hangar right
           Extracts the chosen gum
           & stuck dime for a telephone

It's your mother           she's stapled a lot today
           The paper airplane
           Lights on the exclamation

& just so easy to bend            I'll send instructions via post
           That avoid the perfect ten
           Veers & gutters, pelting

Either sleet or arrow            Souvenir of word, mixed &
           Spoken on the occasion
           Of your charge into

This charismatic fold            To assume the marble &
           Yes, believe in the roll
           Believe decline & magnetic

The vibe of the sharpener            Did I invent pencil as concept?
           & attraction to labeling
           Absolutely everything

The electronic dragon            A corn husk, a metaphor
           Something borrowed & blue
           Something intangible aflame
















Reveal 54: Nutrition

Other: You can enter your weight in any unit you wish
Milk: With three NFL quarterbacks in the family
Meat: Pig escapes slaughterhouse, cow escapes slaughterhouse
Vegetable: And has some great ideas on freezing spinach
Fruit: Why is a tomato a piece from all over the world?
Grain: Or, how corporations get their way












Bruce Covey teaches at Emory University and is the author of The Greek Gods as Telephone Wires and the forthcoming Ten Pins, Ten Frames (Front Room, Ann Arbor) and Elapsing Speedway Organism (No Tell Books, Washington, DC). His recent poems also appear or are forthcoming in 26, Verse, LIT, The Hat, Bombay Gin, Explosive Magazine, Boog City, 580 Split, and other journals. He edits the web-based poetry magazine Coconut and curates the What's New in Poetry reading series in Atlanta.







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