John Fenlon Hogan
What is it that embalms the chambers of my Diasporic heart?
It is our custom here to arrange deities like fruits
on the kitchen table. A mortician’s habits and homework,
a soundless crater—nothing transforms more than the ethereal
ritual of tolerating the ferret stuffed down your slacks
for the duration. I have risen to where no bird can follow.
If there’s a eureka obscured by the eureka hanging
in the checkout aisle, send word my way, which is winter.
Until then, I’ll reel at the sounds of me not doing
anything, which sounds acutely like all that I want.
John Fenlon Hogan works as a project manager for a Wall Street watchdog company, AdviceIQ, that seeks to educate investors about financial advisors and prevent them from becoming victims of swindlers. He grew up in Virginia, did his undergrad in Texas, and then completed his MFA at Columbia, where he worked as poetry editor of the journal. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Colorado Review, Washington Square, Spoon River, Explosion-Proof, and elsewhere.