by Mary Ann Mayer
Laura's Pretty Dream:
The cool air dark with roses;
restive, the mothers’ brow;
the fields festive, bombed
to Adam. More rapeseed
please! More garlic scapes
and hybrid teas, their pink tops
spliced onto horny stock
in time to blossom for you,
Laura, rose-cheeked Laura…
Laura's Ugly Dream:
Take him outside.
Smoke him. Loser.
Bite him, deadbeat.
Kick him, muslim.
Loser, knife him.
Bowels, pity.
Mary Ann Mayer lives in Sharon, Massachusetts. Her first book of poems, Telephone Man, was published in 2005. Her work has appeared in two anthologies, is forthcoming in the online journals Shit Creek Review and Umbrella, and in Raven Chronicles themed issue, Citizen, Subject, Slave. Before turning to poetry, she practiced occupational therapy for thirty years.