UNDERGROUND VOICES MAGAZINE/GARRETT PHELAN


	UNDERGROUND VOICES: POETRY - 06/2012

GARRETT PHELAN

What Lives In His Pocket?

What lives in the pocket
of his black and gray
North Face jacket?

A cheap ballpoint pen,
77 cents in change:
2 quarters, 2 dimes,
a nickel and 2 pennies.

A cough drop wrapped
in wax paper,
a light pair of black gloves,

a headband
to cover his ears
when it is cold,
a cell-phone

and a vicious knife
to cut going in
and rip coming out.

The Other Side Of The Hour

On the other side of the hour your heart's thrown open
and the wind knocks you around like untended shutters.

The word hardens and a murder of
crows glides through your soul.

The wet stars speak to you and the moon moans
like pliant lovers on the other side of the hour.

On the other side of the hour an irreversible force approaches
and you don't know whether it's a gift or a curse.

Garrett’s poems have appeared in a variety of publications including Minimus, Articulate, English Journal, Potomac Review, The Found Poetry Review, The Foliate Oak, Word Riot, and the chapbook anthology, Poetic Art (Workhouse Arts Center).