fascinations: cynthia gleason, mesmeric clairvoyant

by Patrick Kindig

there is a hand on the loom       &
             the loom is her body

thumb running along
             thumb               a kind of singing

in her veins       at night
             she has learned to sleep

let wool accumulate
             around what she calls

a soul               mornings
             she sees the shore

& the ocean & no
          boats upon it

when               she touches the compass
             on her bedside table

the needle quivers
             & turns               away

fascinations: butterfly

by Patrick Kindig

near the piano she lifts             a knee
             unruffles          her ruffles

& pinned to her dress
            a bright two-hearted flame

when she is dead
             she knows

she will not be able      to do this
             so she opens the window

leans against
            the frame

when her body catches            the breeze
             it is almost        as if

                         it were breathing

Patrick Kindig is a dual MFA/PhD candidate at Indiana University. He is the author of the micro-chapbook Dry Spell (Porkbelly Press, 2016), and his poems have recently appeared in Willow Springs, Whiskey Island, CutBank, Hobart, and elsewhere.