ISSUE 36
August 2007

Kevin King

 

This marks an author's first online publication Kevin King is the author of the novel All the Stars Came Out That Night (Dutton, 2005). This past year he has had a fellowship in poetry from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts.

Wild Thing

after The Troggs


In the end, our argument isn't
about anything at all.
It's simply her testing
whether I'm still there.
     
The way she flops onto the couch
is the signal, the shock waves
of pure ostention as good as
a gauntlet thrown down.

In a parallel universe,
it is the mirror image of a game
in which the manager gets off the bench
and hitches her pants for a walk to the mound,

not revealing her intentions, entirely,
not threatening her starter, overtly.
It's still early in the game
and it's the first visit paid,

some therapy, some plea for control,
the puffed out cheek, like a squirrel's,
a dead giveaway.  She lets some fly.
I've seen it enough before that I

recognize the good intentions,
what she wants to say:
Wild thing, I think I love you,
But I want to know for sure.

 

 

Kevin King: Poetry
Copyright ©2007 The Cortland Review Issue 36The Cortland Review