Jeanann Verlee
Question for the Boys Who Watched from the Window
Voyeurs / jaw-slacked lemmings / watching slick boy / bad boy / sweet-
talker bully hustler Shawn / twist the cords / my wrists / his thumbs
yanked clumsy panties to ankle / & all your countless
eyes / giggles / hands smacking glass / like wild caged things /
rattling the whole goddamned house / I worried / the plaster would crack /
& your wire cutters / gutted window screen / rust & steel grazed
your forearms / some, leaking a latticework of blood / then―
the unbolted lock / & my small voice / coin jars snatched /
cabinet pilfered of its rum / mother’s lingerie drawer / wormed through
by 16 grubby thumbs / still, your joy / still, now / 30 years / I see that joy
in your faces / your eager eyes lapping up / my new skin /
this new filth / to bury away / from future wives / & daughters /
& I want to know / what you kept / when recounting the story
in locker rooms / around campfires / over shots of whiskey
& what you erased / our grocery money-turned-pocket change /
for what? the arcade? / some faceless woman’s pink lace /
crusted under your pillows / & that sweet, sweet rum / swilled
on the playground ‘til you vomited / such a good story, boys / such good
boys―
& I want to know / if you kept me / in the telling / did you
describe for them / my crumpled face / bramble of hair / each freckle /
my peach-colored cotton panties / flapping / dumb as a flag?
Jeanann Verlee is a 2017 NEA Poetry Fellow and the author of two books, Said the Manic to the Muse and Racing Hummingbirds, which was awarded a silver medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards. Her third book, prey, was first runner-up for the 2016 Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award and will be published by Black Lawrence Press in 2018. She is a recipient of the Third Coast Poetry Prize and the Sandy Crimmins National Prize, and her work appears in Adroit, Yemassee, BOAAT, and BuzzFeed Reader, among others. Verlee wears polka dots and kisses Rottweilers. She believes in you. Find her at jeanannverlee.com.
Return to September 2017 Edition
Voyeurs / jaw-slacked lemmings / watching slick boy / bad boy / sweet-
talker bully hustler Shawn / twist the cords / my wrists / his thumbs
yanked clumsy panties to ankle / & all your countless
eyes / giggles / hands smacking glass / like wild caged things /
rattling the whole goddamned house / I worried / the plaster would crack /
& your wire cutters / gutted window screen / rust & steel grazed
your forearms / some, leaking a latticework of blood / then―
the unbolted lock / & my small voice / coin jars snatched /
cabinet pilfered of its rum / mother’s lingerie drawer / wormed through
by 16 grubby thumbs / still, your joy / still, now / 30 years / I see that joy
in your faces / your eager eyes lapping up / my new skin /
this new filth / to bury away / from future wives / & daughters /
& I want to know / what you kept / when recounting the story
in locker rooms / around campfires / over shots of whiskey
& what you erased / our grocery money-turned-pocket change /
for what? the arcade? / some faceless woman’s pink lace /
crusted under your pillows / & that sweet, sweet rum / swilled
on the playground ‘til you vomited / such a good story, boys / such good
boys―
& I want to know / if you kept me / in the telling / did you
describe for them / my crumpled face / bramble of hair / each freckle /
my peach-colored cotton panties / flapping / dumb as a flag?
Jeanann Verlee is a 2017 NEA Poetry Fellow and the author of two books, Said the Manic to the Muse and Racing Hummingbirds, which was awarded a silver medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards. Her third book, prey, was first runner-up for the 2016 Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award and will be published by Black Lawrence Press in 2018. She is a recipient of the Third Coast Poetry Prize and the Sandy Crimmins National Prize, and her work appears in Adroit, Yemassee, BOAAT, and BuzzFeed Reader, among others. Verlee wears polka dots and kisses Rottweilers. She believes in you. Find her at jeanannverlee.com.
Return to September 2017 Edition