Please go through these lists
no blood from a paper cut
Check off all the items
how a pencil smells when sharpened
Turn the page around
you lick your index finger
Put an X by those
I always go top left down to right bottom
By which an X should be put
another diagonal line completes the rune
Count the X’s and the checks
move the lips like a fish in a fishbowl
Now compare that number
why do I smell cigarette when no one is allowed to smoke
With the total to get a percentage
I wish I could smoke and never get sick
Then count the number of letters
in and out over the tongue through the nostrils with their tiny hairs
In the alphabetical list of the numbers
sharing a smoke with a lover both greasy with sweat
Please make a master list
like arithmetic so rhythmical
Off all other lists
counting the moles on her back getting a different number every time
With bullet points, colors, and different fonts
connecting them to make constellations
Then you’re done for today.
the finger with the hidden cut still burning.
E. Martin Pedersen, originally from San Francisco, has lived in eastern Sicily for over thirty-five years, where he teaches English at the local university. His poetry has appeared most recently in The James Dickey Review, The Dreaming Machine, Straight Forward Poetry, Nthanda Review and Wagon Magazine.