PHILIP METRES

Gardens: A Retranslation

Behind one’s back,

sight unseen—

quite enough.

Alone with one

another.  To stare.

To glossy.  Eye

socket.  Peep

Two missionaries got home and discovered their apartment had been robbed. They called the police. When they arrived they walked around the apartment, showing them that everything was gone except for a camera, untouched on the mantle.  When the police left the missionaries sat down…now the camera was missing—

hole.  Tonsils

swollen. Voice

in the wilderness

icing over.

As the saying

goes.  Openly.

                                                                                           ---Philip Metres

Philip Metres is the author of Pictures at an Exhibition (2016), Sand Opera (2015), and To Seethe Earth, among others. A two-time recipient of the NEA and the Arab American Book Award, he is professor of English at John Carroll University.