Matt Dennison

Mmm, Mmm, Good

Everything's better with a can of soup mixed in,
especially one of the cream varieties,
he remembered his grandmother saying
as he ladled the glop over his marriage license,
wedding photos, pictures of the honeymoon,
the house, the kids—so much better now, so much
creamy goodness. Mmm, mmm, good, he thought
as he turned up the gas and stirred.

His Last Handsome Days

Spent running through the forest,
          whipping the hawks
      before him

Dear Neighbor,

I saw you through my kitchen window
walk up to the dead cat before your house,
register the fact and walk back up your steps.
No, you may not borrow my lawn mower
the next time you ask.

Eucharist

Dissolving on tongue
the broken corner-bits
of hundred-year-old Dickens.

Extravagance

I should not have given
such a gift to my friend—

for now I am his master,
and he does not see me

when we pass in the street.

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