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ETHAN MERSHON

The Way It Really Was In Kansas, When We'd Sit On The Hood And Not Talk


you can teach yourself East
has no business here,
by lying on your back and turning
the compass to point to the way horses are
                                                                           and the way you tend to peel when the leaves turn to type

satin is yesterday, and East


isn’t.


the way you learn to turn any compass
is by rolling your hay bales into the tattoo parlor
where they make hiding places and nicknames
and asking
                              “Why didn’t you tell me?”

but, of course, they’ll answer
“Someone else teaches rivers
and they went fishing.” 

it’s then that you really get it.

you’re a fistful of feathers. 
yesterday is a satin boxing glove.
it was never about the East.

it was about the fear of blowing away, and the strength


of the hay bale.



217  The Paris-American
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Ethan Mershon is a poet from Wichita, Kansas. He currently lives and studies in Chicago, Illinois.

Upcoming poet:
Sarah Levine
  The Paris-American
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