Like Life

You disappeared the way light
does one afternoon
when you are alone with your
book. Before you were so
present. What happened?
Did I love you too much or
too little? It bedevils me. I
once sat in the dark for five
hours and did nothing. I thought
it was like death, but now, sweet
reflection, I see that it was like life.

*

Sports

They’re still playing games in the
fields of my youth
long after I have wandered away
with the cries of bullies
following me like the dreams of
my missing father.

*

In a year moving backwards

In a year moving backwards
through a world shut down
by Outside Forces
I call your name
as if it is 911
and I talk about you all
the time
              in the time I have left.

*

COREY MESLER has been published in numerous anthologies and journals including Poetry, Gargoyle, Five Points, Good Poems American Places, and New Stories from the South. He has published over 20 books of fiction and poetry. His newest novel, The Diminishment of Charlie Cain, is from Livingston Press. He also wrote the screenplay for We Go On, which won The Memphis Film Prize in 2017. With his wife he runs Burke’s Book Store (est. 1875) in Memphis.