2 Poems by Justin Hyde

//i figured he was gone for good//

laundromat
was across the street
from our trailer.

dad liked to park the car there
drink beer
and listen to the
beatles.

i don't know
if someone snitched him out
or what

but standing at my bedroom window
i saw the cop cuff him
and guide his head
into the squad car.

mom was on the overnight shift
at the ER

i didn't
call her.

what i did
was fix myself
two big bowls
of fruity pebbles

then i drew a nice
long

hot
bath.




//wife's cousin//

on my living room floor
legs slightly scissored.

also the wife is there,
sister in law
and her giant dullard
of a boyfriend.

they're playing
a board game
as i sit in corner
nurse the forty

try to act normal
to keep unstable peace
with wife.

cousin repositions
here and there
her box
sings to me
from underneath
that denim.

it wriggles
taunting me
like sparrow
to cat
behind
screen-window.

nose
then my tongue
then my machinery
in there.

i crouch
glaze-eyed
behind forty

sweat drips
down my
machinery.

i think how screens
sometimes
pop out

and front doors
are accidentally
left open.





Justin Hyde lives in Iowa where he works with criminals. He has a web-page here: http://www.nyqpoets.net/poet/justinhyde.