THE WARDROBE'S BEST DRESSED: TERESE SVOBODA'S "WHEN THE NEXT BIG WAR BLOWS DOWN THE VALLEY"

Dumb Husband

As the right brain twines around the left
and forgets it
so
Sepulveda takes several turns
and we lose the thread of it,
our adult exchange, for once not money-based
or in the liturgy of children,
whatever it was, lost at
the first unfamiliar interchange.

Beaches, palms, 7-11, a corridor
of thick brick stoops,
the level is now Yes or No
and a nervous stomping on the gas
pedal.

I drive. There are worlds to miss
if you’re always right,
the only argument for travel,
true adventure. Look at it this way.

You look at it this way.
A semi does not. Its lower tones
reach our children’s bones and a sorrow
links us all, the crabby baby,
the boy pillowed in comics,
me
turning off
then on again.

You rattle the map
with a flair for forgiveness
saying, It’s true,
I never talk to you.

This selection comes from Terese Svoboda’s upcoming collection, When The Next Big War Blows Down the Valley, available November 1st, 2015, from Anhinga Press. Pre-order your copy here!

A 2013 Guggenheim Fellow in fiction, Terese Svoboda is the author of six novels, five books of poetry, an award-winning memoir and a book of translation from the Nuer. She is very lucky to have When the Next Big War Blows Down the Valley: Selected and New Poems 1985-2015 appear in November 2015 and Anything That Burns You: A Portrait of Lola Ridge, Radical Poet in January 2016.

Jacob L. Cross lives in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. He studied creative writing and publishing at the University of Illinois Springfield, where he served as editor of The Popcorn Farm Literary Journal. His work has been featured in Still: The Journal, The Alchemist Review, and elsewhere. More recently, his poems are due for release in Clash by Night, a poetry anthology inspired by the punk staple, London Calling. He enjoys hiking with his wife, traversing Zelda dungeons, spoiling his dogs, and half-priced sushi.