Simon Perchik’s most recent poem to appear here was “even in the dark” (September 2016)
*
You button this shirt
the way doves break free
and the magician bows
—begin by reaching in
though the applause even now
is darkening on a calendar
that has no mornings
no secret place was saved
for the sleeve half fleece
half dripping oil—your sweat
louder and louder
covered with rain from the ’40s.