6 October 2009 | Vol. 9, No. 3
Debt Etiquette
Never speak of it. Be silent as the little b. Lean into the graceful skewing
of the downward spiral. You can't stop the postman from delivering.
Millionaires at large in the garden are just as likely to pull up our fences.
You don't really believe that you owe anything. Even debt blossoms.
The busty ladies in velvets gossip themselves into a broke nation.
Don't go, strange commerce. Don't stand up and tip your hat.
This is a train to Boston. It is only a tunnel. Light stoops down
into our cabin. Your brother is waiting, or you are leaving. Or, both.
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About the author:
Elizabeth Hughey's first book, Sunday Houses the Sunday House, was published by the University of Iowa Press in 2007. New poems have recently appeared in Caffeine Destiny, Zoland Poetry, Free Verse, and Starting Today: Poems for the first 100 Days in Office. She teaches at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is a contributing editor at Bateau Press.
For further reading:
See the complete list of work by Elizabeth Hughey at 42opus. Browse the contents of 42opus Vol. 9, No. 3, where "Debt Etiquette" ran on October 6, 2009. List other work with these same labels: poetry.
