- Keith Banner
Kenshire
lincolnshire's
stuck-up
sister, always holier-than-thou
really good job at the bank
nice hairdo
prissy but shaky
from
the drinking
that's what this
is
one house
a shipwreck
the next one a
goddamn beautiful
birthday cake
many of them
built
it seems like
the day after
JFK got shot
regal and apologetic
brick
and siding, brick
and sentiment
something about
the inauguration
something about
the taste of vodka
in a
car
you walk by
a splendid
split-level
perfectly
ossified
and then
there's
one with busted
shutters
and an old water-heater
in the
side-yard
beached whale
broken promises
daddy issues
lincolnshire is
hiding
nothing, bitch
lincolnshire is litter and
trump bumper-stickers
and mexican
kids playing war
and
leaving popsicle sticks
on the sidewalk
but here
on kenshire
silence, people,
silence
behind the high school
a sort of gentility
hiding like
holier-than-thou shakiness
secret
drinking has its own rewards
its own
language
its own
poetics and the sky
soaked
with a sort of cantaloupe loveliness
as if you need a drink
to know who
you
are
