Download “In A Manner Of Speaking” as a PDF.

This is one of your tricks: lying
between two nail-studded boards
underneath piled up sandbags. Many
magicians rely on illusions; you
count on yourself to tolerate pain.
Safe from the mirrors and their
troubling effects inside of your
scourging, immovable shell, you wait
for the salve of a pleased crowd –
and Saturday nights in a waterfront
warehouse, snake charmers and
fire-eaters surround you and cheer.
Now you have plans to jazz up
your act with an eye-catching,
spine-tingling, spellbinding treat:
you’ve been looking for someone
to tap dance on top of you, you
and your coffin of nails. I’ve never
had those Cyd Charisse feet, but I’ll
work …

The hiss of a bottle opening, and the groan
of the couch giving way. I flip on the basketball
game, and my daughter bounces to the floor at my feet.
Watch my beer, kiddo, I tell her. She doesn’t really
get basketball yet, but she understands
when the best time to be around
her father is. Kathy comes out
of the bedroom with her hair
pinned up and her flannel shirt rolled
past her elbows. She slaps my legs off
the coffee table, kisses our child on
the forehead, settles down in the rocking chair.
There’s half a poem on the computer
in …