Writing by Corey Mesler

I wrote a poem for Misery.
She did not read a word.
Though lame I have walked in
the great, clean expanse of memory
like an astronaut newly arrived.
I wrote a poem for Memory
and he could not understand a word.
In the brightest sunshine I am not
as shrewd as Pain, or Wonder.
I’ll leave the rest up to you: how
to live like this, how to write
a poem, and how to end it, finally.

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.  With his wife he runs Burke’s Book Store (est. 1875) in Memphis.