For Louise

The shape of your bones
under your skin
is like any common
thing buried beneath
snow.
That morning under the white
coverlet, you put
your hand on me.  A hand so
delicate it could break,
or break your heart.

© 2005 Corey Mesler

COREY MESLER is the owner of Burke's Book Store, in Memphis, Tennessee, one of the country's oldest (1875) and best independent bookstores. He has published poetry and fiction in numerous journals including Rattle, Pindeldyboz, Quick Fiction, Cranky, Thema, Mars Hill Review, Poet Lore and others. He has also been a book reviewer for The Memphis Commercial Appeal. A short story of his was chosen for the 2002 edition of New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, published by Algonquin Books. Talk, his first novel, appeared in 2002.

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