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Two Poems
by Sarah Strickley

Sign Nailed There

Inside that tree there the one kind thing I might say to you is there are two hearts carved in it but below that a hammered nail it may have held up sometime a sign or maybe more malicious than that I might say I could look at you as if I hadn't sworn to love only myself nailed there square to the ground it makes you think have you ever heard of this there are birds that have seen both Alaska and Hawaii you will never believe me you never will no matter how you try to say someone loves you.



Pay Attention

Eight brothers and sisters split down the middle of the house boys up girls down it's how it was you never get over this you are impatient sometimes the rain is so hard you stop hearing it like a train keeps passing and you forget you're waiting to cross the tracks it's a wonder you all didn't die even the paint was poisonous the water had arsenic in it the best word for it awful full of awe sounds like somebody strangling you eventually you see you planned on leaving anyway this makes it easier the connections were there before you saw them you still want to get even for the one that got sick you take a floorboard he made a sign in it with a knife or it was under his bed when he died or you closed your eyes for your father you pour tar in the pipes and they don't burst and flood they go down with the house black inside and pay attention to the way I am leaving that's what you try to say you can't.