Literature 4-18-2006

What Light: This Week’s Poem: Thom Swiss

Thom Swiss is the third poet chosen in this once-a-week yearlong survey of Minnesota’s poets and their work. The series is sponsored by Magers & Quinn Booksellers.

Thom Swiss
1

My Friends and Their Girlfriends

There was a hint of, what? Resentment?

She’d come home early, a bit drunk,

and sat on the edge of the bed where he was resting.

Excuse me, I had a panic attack.

It’s always a compromise, isn’t it?

In his half-dream they were drifting

from the beach to the bungalow—

It was 1995 or ’96.

Some luck they had then. Some secret.

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