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The Fluffer Talks of Eternity

By D. A. Powell b. 1963

I can only give you back what you imagine.

I am a soulless man. When I take you

into my mouth, it is not my mouth. It is

an unlit pit, an aperture opened just enough

in the pinhole camera to capture the shade.

I have caused you to rise up to me, and I

have watched as you rose and waned.

Our times together have been innumerable. Still,

like a Capistrano swallow, you come back.

You understand: I understand you. Understand

each jiggle and tug. Your pudgy, mercurial wad.

I am simply a hand inexhaustible as yours

could never be. You’re nevertheless prepared to shoot.

If I could I’d finish you. Be more than just your rag.

Source: Poetry (February 2010).

Biography

Born in Albany, Georgia, D.A. Powell earned an MA at Sonoma State University and an MFA at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His first three collections of poetry, Tea, (1998), Lunch (2000), and Cocktails (2004), are considered by some to be a trilogy on the AIDS epidemic. Lunch was a finalist for the National Poetry Series, and Cocktails was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry. His next two books were . . .

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