Alex Lemon

The Wish Book


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      Also by Alex Lemon

       Fancy Beasts

       Hallelujah Blackout

       Happy: A Memoir

       Mosquito

      © 2014, Text by Alex Lemon

      All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher: Milkweed Editions, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Suite 300, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415.

      (800) 520-6455

       www.milkweed.org

      Published 2014 by Milkweed Editions

      Cover design by Stewart A. Williams

      Cover photo/illustration by Stewart A. Williams

      Author photo by Ariane Balizet

      13 14 15 16 17 5 4 3 2 1

       First Edition

      Milkweed Editions, an independent nonprofit publisher, gratefully acknowledges sustaining support from the Bush Foundation; the Patrick and Aimee Butler Foundation; the Dougherty Family Foundation; the Driscoll Foundation; the Jerome Foundation; the Lindquist & Vennum Foundation; the McKnight Foundation; the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund, and a grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation Minnesota; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Target Foundation; and other generous contributions from foundations, corporations, and individuals. For a full listing of Milkweed Editions supporters, please visit www.milkweed.org.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Lemon, Alex

       [Poems. Selections]

       The Wish Book : Poems / Alex Lemon. — First Edition.

      p. cm.

       Summary: "Offering unrestrained descriptions of sensory overload and tender meditations on fatherhood and mortality, these poems blur the nebulous line between the personal and the pop-cultural"

       ISBN 978-1-57131-843-5

       (e-book) (print)

       I. Title.

       PS3612.E468A6 2014

       811'.6--dc23

      Milkweed Editions is committed to ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book production practices with this principle, and to reduce the impact of our operations in the environment. We are a member of the Green Press Initiative, a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the world’s endangered forests and conserve natural resources. The Wish Book was printed on acid-free 100% postconsumer-waste paper by Friesens Corporation.

      For Felix . . .

      More powerful than dynamite

      Contents

       Haruspex

       My Favorite Coup d’état

       Falling Asleep In A Stranger’s Bathtub

       Rube Baby Rube

       Pole-Dancing With Ghosts

       And The Wind Sings Boo

       They Know Not What To Do With Their Suffering

       Disneyfication

       The Blowdown

       Marooning

       This Pledge Drive Don’t End

       Volant

       7-7-7

       Not Yet A Word, Climbing Out Of Your Little Cage

       THREE

       Real-Live Bleeding

       FOUR

       The Pleasure Dome

       Your Life Is The Bed I’m Gonna Lie Down In

       Of Love Hot & Enormous

       Shakedown Machine

       Listen Now Pull It Together Focus

       Wearing A Dead Man’s Sunglasses To The Zoo

       The Itching Is Chronic

       Show Up Look Good

       Locked & Loaded

       Everybody Has A Skeleton

       Making It Nice

       Trust Me Trust Me Trust

       Ain’t No Best In Show

       Lampreys Of Sunlight

       Let Us Get Our Gifting On

       The Trick Bag

       The Wish Book