Sharon Hill y Yo by Alexander Long

after Borges

When I begin to name things, the only task
I’ve been assigned, home begins to slip away
Like trout between two stones or a bar
Of sunlight one might mistake for a wall.
Close your eyes.  Go on. Better still, slip
Into a dream.  When I say Sharon Hill,
What shines behind your eyes?  What rings
Between your ears?  Your palms may be sweating,
But that’s got nothing to do with me.  Don’t let
Me into your home.  This is my poem,
And since you’ve found yourself in it,
I say Sharon Hill and try not to lie.
But my tools are lying
And the fastidious revision
Of those lies.  I could say Sharon Hill
All night, it might be funny
To hold a cinderblock over my head,
Then throw it at your feet, and I’d laugh
At the white clouds of dust blossoming
Before our eyes and into our mouths.
But that humor might get lost on you
Because you couldn’t be from Sharon Hill,
You might come at me, chase me up a chain
Link fence, and my boot heel might crack
Your knuckles first, your chin next.  You might fall
Flat on your back on the black asphalt.
I might straddle the fence, count stars, sigh,
Climb down, dumb-founded, stand above you, nudge
Your ribs with my fist, spit, grab your chin,
Feel for a pulse.  Maybe finding one
Is to live out the slow song of dust,
And finding yours, I might sigh again,
Squat next to you, burn through as many
Kools as it takes until you come to,
And I might help you to your feet, answer all
Your questions with sincere and incorrect
Responses: you’re lost, it’s called ‘Sharon Hill’,
You’re probably going to live, sure
Let’s get some eggs and beer.  And whatever
Greasy spoon we find, even if we cross
The county line to find it, wouldn’t
The waitress radiate defeat, lilies,
And whiskey?  Wouldn’t our toast be burnt
Perfectly, the bacon overflowing,
The coffee silty, smelling of broken-
In shoes, and wouldn’t I remind you
Never to ask where we are because
I told you, I told you where we are,
Where we’ve been, and where we’re going
All have the same name?

Alexander Long’s fourth book of poems, On Distance, will be published by Stephen F. Austin University Press, fall 2018. Long is associate professor of English at John Jay College – The City University of New York, and is at work on a biography of Larry Levis.