appealing

The Maynard
Fall 2019

Katie Berger
0:00
 
 

Visionary

The man who left me reciting the sound
of the fire alarm before I sleep serves
on an advisory board that asks why

this town has no trees. I scattered
the bruises, splotched neck evenly
through my memory like time zones—they hurt

less but stretched forever. All zip codes
balance turbulence and tradition and I begin
each morning asking why I echo
with unincorporated lightning.

The man who left me afraid to yawn caught
me sprinkling saplings with volcanic dust
while he stared into the municipal

park pond, the mold. The man who collects
swim meet medals and lays out his vision
for a community under a canopy of leaves lost it

with me. He is a thousand betta fish
flitting in a thousand bowls at the back
of the pet food store. He held up the angry

red one and asked why
I couldn’t dream of it.