HOW TO RUN A WIRE FILLING STATION
HOW TO RUN A WIRE FILLING STATION
by Peter Jay Shippy
Hour when sunflowers bend
Toward other starlight, searching
For a trace of ignition. Don’t fret,
I whisper, infidelity
Is safe with me. Fill up.
# # #
I park inside the wire station
Turning my mind over
To the vending machine: candy,
Condoms, and a red comb.
Hour when the rooster candles
Her eggs. His peep
Twists like raw filament.
# # #
Hour when the blue sands
In the neon hourglass
Stop sifting and puddle, last call.
Hour for my rounds. Will
I see you? In the sedan?
Beneath the snow, worrying
The dials for a station
That plays one voice
Plus one voice?
Peter Jay Shippy is the author of Thieves’ Latin (University of Iowa Press, 2003), Alphaville (BlazeVOX BOOKS, 2006), and How to Build the Ghost in Your Attic (Rose Metal Press, 2007). He has published widely, including The American Poetry Review, The Boston Globe, Iowa Review, and Ploughshares. Shippy teaches literature and writing at Emerson College in Boston.