Boyfriend in the basement? Sound
the alarm of ping pong,
the game’s steady metronome
measures the absence of kissing.
Silence is the alarm—PING, PONG—
that signals my father upstairs,
measures absence, kissing
restricted by table, paddle; hit, miss;
each click a signal to my father. Upstairs
his ears keep watch. Downstairs—
restricted by table, paddle; hit, miss—
we kiss quickly, practice with free hands
the sounds for which his ears keep watch. Downstairs
in the basement: boyfriend sounds
of kissing quickly, practicing with free hands
the game’s steady metronome.
Each boyfriend in the basement sounds
my father’s safety alarm—PING, PONG—
our practiced steady metronome
measuring—absent my father—this game of kissing.
Professor of English and Creative Writing at Lock Haven University, Marjorie Maddox has published 11 collections of poetry—including Transplant, Transport, Transubstantiation (Yellowglen Prize); True, False, None of the Above (Illumination Book Award Medalist); Local News from Someplace Else; Perpendicular As I (Sandstone Book Award)—the short story collection What She Was Saying (Fomite); four children’s and YA books—includingInside Out: Poems on Writing and Readiing Poems with Insider Exercises (Finalist Children’s Educational Category 2020 International Book Awards), and A Crossing of Zebras: Animal Packs in Poetry; I’m Feeling Blue, Too!—Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania (co-editor); Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry (assistant editor); and 600+ stories, essays, and poems in journals and anthologies. Forthcoming in 2021 is her book Begin with a Question (Paraclete Press), as well as her ekphrastic collaboration with photographer Karen Elias, Heart Speaks, Is Spoken For (Shanti Arts). For more information, please see www.marjoriemaddox.com
Latest posts by Marjorie Maddox (see all)
- Ping Pong Pantoum, 1975 - 4th August 2021