Sugar le Fae
—for Keith Maillard
Backing under the shower’s hot spittle,
a metal knuckle knocks and settles
on the bathtub floor. A loonie?
Must’ve swam up my pajama pants
and stuck to my butt. What booty
to excavate from one’s own bathtub,
stamped with a bust of the queen mum!
What strange delight to meet her
here in the shower, to turn her over,
warm from the steam (and the heat of my bum).
To find on her back, a duck floating
under scratched brass mountains
and a maple leaf moon—a mallard,
perhaps—no, obviously a loon.
How nice to set her on the windowsill
gently, intently, heads-up. To lift her
again at the end, cold from the sill’s still
water, her icy stare steady if sweaty,
the metal of house keys, bullets, bells.
Yes, to love her for her character—
not just for what she could get me.
The Coke she buys tastes like a miracle.
Sugar le Fae is a PhD candidate at Georgia State University. A prize-winning poet, activist, musician, photographer, and Radical Faerie, Sugar has taught English Composition and Literature for over a decade; served as the Social Media Director (2012) and Poetry Editor (2013) of PRISM International (UBC); and published dozens of poems and essays across North America.
