About the Feature

A metaphor breaks the laws of thermodynamics
by generating energy
atom fuse. Too, there’s no running out
of comparison. Let more heat in, throw
the balance off. I turn eternal boundary afloat
by recognizing wife.

Are you doing your own thing?
I recognize “doing” and “thing” but
“own”?/”your”?

I do have a wife, and she is
merry. And do I have a husband?
To—Take care—
I have the ideal wife.
I have the ideal “wife.”
I have the ideal, “wife.”

Software I am given
empowers me to design
a living room space
I make my own living.
“Own living” “as if one could”

About the Author

Catherine Wagner's latest book is My New Job (Fence, 2009). A selection from a new project, an epic romance, appears in the fall issue of Verse, and recent readings are available on her Penn Sound page. She is associate professor in the MA program in creative writing at Miami University in southwest Ohio.