I’m a mull (flimsy muslin that joins the rigid spine
and the mawkish body). I’m a moll (Mary’s name
debased, see also gangster’s girlfriend, prostitute).
I’m a molt (time to make way for what’s new,
see also shed, leave, eschew). I’m a mole (velvety
mink fur and seed-glass eyes, my digging done alone
in the corsetted night). I’m a mold (fungi, earth,
the amorphous worked into shape, see also groomed).
I’m a mood (disorder, feeling, see also chemically
induced). I’m a moot (disputed, irrelevant, see also
female, feminine). I’m a moon (rocky, cratered,
see also idle reverie, wasted time). I’m a moan
(the long, low bovine sound of pain or grief).
I’m a mean (intend, convey, see also unkind, a way
to survive). I’m a mead (see meadows plainspoken).
I’m a meld (merge, see also loss of self). I’m a mend
(improve, repair, see also cure, though I’m not one).
I’m a mind (obey my warning). I’m a mine (ore,
excavation, see also a passage under an enemy
position, which makes me a getaway). I’m a mite
(the small creature that feeds on honeybees).
I’m a mote (a speck in your eye). I’m a mope
(a spell of calamitously low spirits). I’m a nope
(see also no, and no, and no). I’m a pope (finned,
not flabellumed). I’m a pipe (tell that to Magritte).
I’m a pile (see me heap). I’m a file (a container
for what I keep). I’m a fill (buried waste covered
in contaminated soils, see also my want, my need).
I’m a mill (crushed, ground). I’m a bill (an itemized
statement of what I feel you owe me). I’m a bile
(fat-guzzling gut fluid, see also my luminescent
chartreuse anger). I’m a mile (like a long dash—
between us). I’m a mule (a sterile, stubborn
hybrid). I’m a muse (but for me, not for you).
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 27, Issue 6.
Dana Henry Martin’s work has appeared in The Adroit Journal, Barrow Street, Cider Press Review, FRiGG, Laurel Review, Mad in America, Meat for Tea, Muzzle, New Letters, Rogue Agent, Sheila-Na-Gig, SWWIM, Trampoline, and other literary journals. Martin’s poetry collections include the chapbooks Love and Cruelty (Meat for Tea, forthcoming), No Sea Here (Moon in the Rye Press, forthcoming), Toward What Is Awful (YesYes Books), In the Space Where I Was (Hyacinth Girl Press), and The Spare Room (Blood Pudding Press). Martin was born and raised in Norman, Oklahoma, and currently lives in Toquerville, Utah.
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