She adjusts the rearview mirror.
She pretends she’s the white rabbit
throwing a paint grenade. She twists the wheel
like a cardiac arrest. She’s thinking:
This is how a squash rolls between a mailbag
and a decoy duck. The car warbles
into the wrong direction. Noise
is cut into julienne strips. She corrects
her position: Little Bear noodles,
Great Bear gravy.
She reverses, a rewind
unto itself of bad film. She looks
behind her. She’s never quite in the picture.
Never correctly sure about her measure
of distances. A tire dips low
against the curb. The instructor shouts
a restraining order. She suspects
he hasn’t been completely honest
about what he’s drinking
from the plastic cup in his hand.
Do twenty-six maneuvers
make a constellation? She shifts
back to first gear. He orders another round.
latest poetry collection, Banned for Life, was published by Misty Publications
in 2014. She is also the author of The Desecration of Doves (2005); Secret
Love Poems (Rubicon Press, 2007); Bundles of Letters Including A, V and
Epsilon (Texture Press, 2008), co-written with Valerie Fox; and Seeing Birds
in Church Is a Kind of Adieu (Cinnamon Press, 2010).
Her poems have appeared in Ambit, Caketrain, Diagram, Poetry Ireland, Poet Lore,
Rattle, and Salt Hill as well as the Best of the Web anthologies
2008 and 2009 (Dzanc Books). She lives in Spinea, Italy, and serves as one of the
poetry editors at The Pedestal Magazine.
Note: See also Clare
MacQueen’s review of Banned for Life in this issue.
⚡
Three Poems by Arlene Ang
(“a driving student adjusts the seat” [includes audio], “of
geese,” and “tonsillitis” [includes audio]; and a review by Lynn
Levin of seeing birds in church is a kind of adieu in Rattle (Issues
24, 26, 31, and 32: 2009-2011)
⚡
Two Poems by Arlene Ang in
Issue 24 of ducts.org (Winter 2010): “Outside the Cathedral with St.
Paul” and “A Bow Is How We Practice Drunkenness”
⚡
Interview with Arlene Ang
by Anna Lena Phillips in Fringe blog, Issue 35 (Sundress Publications, 1
February 2010)
