House Hunting
a different folded down
masculinity: ironed or plastic
blue work shirt
or Norfolk tweed
turn the key to
brown velvet coats
grow blue business ledgers
from the throat
taste cologne in the stomach
Brooks Brothers three piece suits
gray or brown or silver
scratched on with a smile
where I grew up
in high apartments
diamond pane windows
were sewn into fibered turtle necks
old stone cottages
weren’t anything personal
Do you carry copies of books?
Then my body is yours
British fur lined gloves
Burberry raincoat
half hidden fancy
cashmere sweaters
I touched something hot
old fashioned and upside down
your face: a bath tub style Porche
I’ll scribble inside your cover:
you are a brand new mansion
I don’t buy.
(Text from Rice, Anne. Exit to Eden. New York: Harper Collins, 1985. Print. Pages 188-195.)
~*~
Massage
your florid little hand
makes me feel completely alone
rub the blood in forward
and back again slowly
beauty is supposed to protect me
how odd fingers are
climb to glorious heights
but don’t touch the center
this outrageous relaxation
snap stop it
I failed in my head conversation:
a pain demonstration
but that’s what I signed up for
(Text from Rice, Anne. Exit to Eden. New York: Harper Collins, 1985. Print. Pages 188-189.)
Jennifer MacBain-Stephens lives in Midwest and is the author of three full length poetry collections: “Your Best Asset is a White Lace Dress,” (Yellow Chair Press, 2016) “The Messenger is Already Dead,” (Stalking Horse Press, March 2017,) and “We’re Going to Need a Higher Fence,” tied for first place in the 2017 Lit Fest Book Competition. Her work has been nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. She is also the author of nine chapbooks. Her chapbook “She Came Out From Under the Bed, (Poems Inspired by the Films of Guillermo del Toro)” recently came out from Dancing Girl Press. Recent work can be seen at or is forthcoming from The Pinch, Prelude, Cleaver, Kestrel, Yalobusha Review, decomp, and Inter/rupture. Visit her website.