TWO POEMS by LEIGH CHADWICK
Tom Hanks looks out the window of his penthouse apartment & wonders if it’s possible that Meg Ryan could ever be prettier than she was yesterday
Tom Hanks worries he will never stop wondering.
Tom Hanks stares out his window
& thinks, It’s a wonder, what little space we hold.
He keeps staring out his window
& thinks about last night: Meg Ryan, alone
at a restaurant pretending to read,
a red rose draped across the table.
Tom Hanks wonders what color toothbrush
Meg Ryan uses, & if she replaces it every three months.
Tom Hanks wonders if Meg Ryan is even prettier today
than she was last night, if such a thing were possible.
Looking at her made him think of sidewalks,
though he didn’t know why, & he has no one to ask.
Tom Hanks imagines Meg Ryan standing like a flamingo,
perched on one leg, balancing a wayward heart.
If Tom Hanks saw Meg Ryan today,
he would tell her that it’s okay to sit alone at a restaurant,
with nothing but a book & a red rose,
& then to also leave alone. Tom Hanks decides
that Meg Ryan is prettier today.
Tom Hanks is sure of it.
Part-Time Celebrity
I can’t remember where I left the denouement.
I dream seventeen children playing "Für Elise" on baby grand pianos.
I spend the solstice walking a yoyo down a flight of stairs.
I dream me standing under a waterfall, my hair curled mermaid.
I can’t remember the last time we fucked with the lights on.
I dream me dressed as grass, an apple between my thighs.
I’ve stopped believing in stop lights.
I dream tongues sucking on other tongues.
You should’ve seen the moon before I circumcised it.
Leigh Chadwick is the author of the poetry collection “Your Favorite Poet,” the chapbook “Dating Pete Davidson,” and the collaborative poetry collection “Too Much Tongue,” co-written with Adrienne Marie Barrios. Her poetry has appeared in Salamander, Passages North, Identity Theory, The Indianapolis Review, and Hobart, among others. She is also the executive editor of Redacted Books and is a regular contributor at Olney Magazine, where she conducts the "Mediocre Conversations" interview series. Leigh can be found online at leighchadwick.com and on Twitter at @LeighChadwick5.