POEM
Draft of a Dream
Steven CramerThe message I found on the Post-it note
went thus: love truth; expect to be found out.
Kid-style capitals proved I wrote it, but
left no clue why I'd swelled into a fat
clause no editor could edit; then, an entry
on a shrink's list of patient slang for sex—
her desk Norwegian teak, the mug of tea
on which she had affixed her Post-it notes
hot against her knuckle, their lips of stickum
loosening . . . And yet, I knew the note
to peel away at hour's end would terminate
our sessions—cool as the draft her linen
skirt was lifting to: Love, just stay benighted,
given everything I know you've got to hide.
Source: Poetry (June 2003).
This poem originally appeared in the June 2003 issue of Poetry.
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Steven Cramer was born in Orange, New Jersey, and educated at Antioch College and the University of . . . MORE »
