Corey Mesler

CHEKHOV’S GUN

Somehow in the first act
of my conceptual life
I introduced a gun. It has
hung above me ever
since. It’s not a real gun.
It’s figurative, like
the smile of La Giaconda,
like the twist of a mouth
in a scream. God save
me from my ugly ideation.
Make me more peaceful,
a little more hopeful, here in
the restlessness before the last act.

COREY MESLER has been published in numerous anthologies and journals including Poetry, Gargoyle, Five Points, Lunch Ticket, Good Poems American Places, and New Stories from the South. He has published over 50 books of fiction and poetry. His newest book, A Troubling of Goldfish, is from Big Table Books. With his wife he runs Burke’s Book Store (est. 1875) in Memphis.

All rights © Corey Mesler