Two poems by Patrick Carrothers
Mockingbird Traps
The really good ones
are made up
of large black umbrellas
big enough to hold cats
or small pigs. A large
black fireman's boot
is good, and should be
dragged slowly through wet grass
after a hard rain. This
allows you to take them alive
and is popular in the north-
east. I prefer
a black silk stocking
strung up on a low cherry
or dogwood, and the waiting
for the twitching
wings, another available
child.
Sister
You have mastered tennis
and ruined enough marriages
for one week. Welcome
home. Your arrival
reminds me of the morning
I found stuffed foxes
under the tree, the two
I had seen running into the corn
the summer before. The mirror
down at the Slipper Club
awaits your tanned neck,
it goes well with your travel
notes from the islands.
In my dreams I mention
the Lady's name and endure
the same nausea as before.
You are the fruit
and the flies, Myla.
Copyright © Patrick Carrothers 1981 (originally published in Accessories,
a student literary/arts magazine published by the University of Colorado at Boulder)Back to poetry index