News Item
“New research suggests we have a fixed reservoir of self-restraint.”
This is why at the end of the day
you smuggle bowls of ice cream to the TV
Or put another way
when you pushed your plate aside
and hunger kneaded your gut for months
this is why you crammed the closet with new clothes
and emerged from your diving bell
in a breathless hotel room
why you let the coat fall from your shoulders
That manic week
when you ironed every shirt and tablecloth
why you couldn’t keep up with the grief
Last night sirens passed close
this morning the airwaves crash and moil
and your mail is flooded with catalogs
This is why you’ve staged your house like a catalog
why you can’t bear to open the bills
why streets are jammed with luxury cars
and panhandlers
and your country is at war
previously published in Tar River Poetry (Spring 2012)