A man warns me not to drink standing water
in the garage. He is imaginary, a result
of the nights I keep watch after the flood.
City residents wander neighborhoods at all hours,
in search of dry rooms. In my pocket I carry
a pistol and a pack of gum. The man’s face
deteriorates into bone and blood after every bit
of wisdom. He is always beautifully whole at the start.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 18, Issue 2.
Julie Brooks Barbour is the author of Small Chimes (Aldrich Press, 2014). Her most recent chapbooks are Beautifully Whole (forthcoming from Hermeneutic Chaos Press, 2015) and Earth Lust (Finishing Line Press, 2014). Her poems have appeared in Waccamaw, Four Way Review, diode, storySouth, UCity Review, Prime Number Magazine, burntdistrict, The Rumpus, Midwestern Gothic, Blue Lyra Review, and Verse Daily. She is co-editor of Border Crossing and an Associate Poetry Editor at Connotation Press: An Online Artifact. She teaches composition and creative writing at Lake Superior State University.
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