bringing the gaps

April 2022 | poetry

            o my the pic-

                                         nic  bas-

don’t think I got                                    kets of im-

            this stuff on sale                                    per-fec-tion

                              last week

                                          it took men-ee

or cul-tiv-                                            ya year

            ate them some                                     to find them

                        were excav-

                                    ated with a knife

sniffing hog or                             or with the aid

                   old hound dog                              of a truffle-

                                             others

by weaving                                     were extrav-

                 gum wrappers                                      aganted

                                    the gum having

two in the                                            plucked out a tooth or

               process-

                            shun of my eyes

over now                                         all over the

            but the song                                        pages  it’s all

                            the drinking

                                        the dented offender

oh this is                                              apologies the tears

                all I bring

                                but there I’m be-

                                                       ing ex-

or is it repre-                                           pressive

                 sentative                                             again  again

                                or Sir Real again

                                                             but

    keep bringing                                            the big butt is  I

                                 more

                                              or at least less

                                                                             of  it

           of some

                                thing

                                                      each

                   again                                              day

                                    a  gain

                                          or   no

Steve Fay

Steve Fay’s collection “what nature: Poems” was published by Northwestern University Press. A repeat winner of Illinois Arts Council Literary Awards and a Pushcart Prize nominee, his poetry has been published in Ascent, Beloit Poetry Journal, Field, Spoon River Poetry Review, TriQuarterly and several other journals and anthologies, and has recently appeared (or is forthcoming) in the “Hamilton Stone Review, Moving Force Journal, and the Comstock Review. He lives in Fulton County, Illinois.