Fall 2010, Volume 9

Poetry by Corey Mesler

Today I Resist the Gods

Today I resist the gods
who would have me for their dinner.
I have rung the bell
and this morning the birds have
returned in abundance.
Today I resist the temptation
to name it all after you because you
are the past and the past
is with me like a coat of dross. Today
I need it, a medicament.
And in my dreams I am whole and I
am heedless and the world is
a golden toy. I resist the urge to tell
you about it, again, for the last time.

 

BIO: Corey Mesler has published in numerous journals and anthologies. He has published two novels, Talk: A Novel in Dialogue (2002) and We Are Billion-Year-Old Carbon (2006), a full length poetry collection, Some Identity Problems (2008), and a book of short stories, Listen: 29 Short Conversations (2009). He also has two novels released simultaneously, March 31, 2010: The Ballad of the Two Tom Mores (Bronx River Press) and Following Richard Brautigan (Livingston Press). He has also published a dozen chapbooks of both poetry and prose. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize numerous times, and two of his poems have been chosen for Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac. He also claims to have written, “Ebony and Ivory.” With his wife, he runs Burke’s Book Store, one of the country’s oldest (1875) and best independent bookstores. He can be found at www.coreymesler.com.