"The Brown Room" by Richard Garcia

The Brown Room

You, ballerina, spin on the edge of the sharpest desire. You can't
catch me, you say, can't catch me in your net of words, but I do
appreciate your efforts. The milk jug resembles a hand grenade.
The tiny hands have returned after their sojourn in the biscuit can.
The tiny hands squeeze the forehead of the doorknocker. A lioness
with wings protects the secret of your origins. When a murder of
crows burst from the barn you slip me a book of matches with a
phone number scrawled in it. It is no one's number, and the
matches are always damp. I will never tire of waiting to grasp
your waist. I shall always be there to catch you when you fall. But
you never fall, do you? The metronome is the only true tone in
the brown room. It ticks yes, it ticks no, it ticks yes, it ticks no.

Richard Garcia

Richard Garcia's poetry books include The Other Odyssey (Dream Horse Press, 2014), The Chair (BOA, 2015), and Porridge (Press 53, 2016). His poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies. He has received several Pushcart nominations and a Pushcart Prize and has been in Best American Poetry. He lives in Charleston, South Carolina.

Headshot: Richard Garcia

Photo Credit: Staff