Corey Cook


The Phone Call

This phone call
means that a drunken

voice will seep through
miles and miles of wire

and funnel into my ear.
Your words are snails -

slow moving under
their burden; however,

the tacky residue tells
the straightness of their path.

Your thick voice quavers -
persuades me to follow

you to our memory.
Your words break it down -

vowels rip as
consonants crush.

A heavy pulp
is left in the gut.

Your voice then recoils
into some hollowed out place.

*previously published in SPAM-Sacramento Poetry Nov. 5, 2006


Jumbo Plastic Baby Face

is what the receipt reads,
the product: oversized

plastic gift bags. My wife,
Rachael, wraps, or bags

a baby gate, a bathtub
and clothes—prepares

to leave for her
friend’s baby shower

in Massachusetts. Before
bagging the clothes though

she holds each outfit up
for me to see, we smile

at each other, then walk hand
in hand to our bedroom.

*previously published in ken*again Winter 2006-07


Tarp

The brown skinned tarp
writhes under the blunt weight
of the wood.

Smooth 2 by 4s. No arched branches.
No slick crevices. Sanded wood
with dark scars - sexless.

The synthetic canvas
knows no pleasure either -
not even the blunt weight.

*previously published in Baby Clam Press - Summer 2006 issue


Resuscitation Annie

I happened on her
in a dream, lying

on the floor, all rubber
and collapsible chest,

just a torso, neck, and head,
her eyes shut, lips parted.

She needed me to breathe
for her. I fell to my knees,

tilted her head back, pinched
her nose, and exhaled

into her mouth. I then started
the compressions. I did this over

and over, breathing and pumping,
pumping and breathing,

but I couldn't resuscitate
the girl with no limbs,

the girl with the eyelids for eyes.
She kept taking from me

and I kept giving.
I should have known better.

She had no lungs, no heart
to jump start. I finally gave up

and rested my sweaty cheek
on her chest only to be woken

by someone's breath
on the back of my neck.

*previously published in Shit Creek Review - Issue One Nov. 2006