Marianne Shaneen

The Peekaboo Theory



keep your eye out for a package: last night I woke in a
sweat, wiped my face with towel shocked as the image of my
face materialized upon it, still haven't looked in the
mirror what if my face has been wiped away

on impulse took the towel wrapped and mailed it to you, but
I realize now that I was in such a state that I don't know
if I even addressed it--

perhaps my face has been lost in the mail to linger
undeliverably with the live pythons, tarantulas, birds still
living in a Milwaukee post office that flew out when their
package was opened, 14-carat gold dentures, bearskins, major
league pitcher Pedro Borbon's stolen World Series ring,
x-rays, loaded guns, bees, funeral urns, chickens, sets of
tires, a Chagall painting stolen from the Jewish Museum,
karaoke machines, and the box of cocoons, accidentally left
open by a file clerk and exposed to the light for a few
minutes, that left a post office in 1892 enswarmed with
butterflies


next