Geometry Lesson

When I think of you,
I contemplate pink parabolas:
My favorite geometric forms—Two soft rabbits in a den,
hiding from predators,
Two sleeping kittens in a blanket
cozy-cupped in silk—
They lie folded neatly away,
As easy as an algorithm
Explained in a picture book:
Two tight, efficient boats,
Rocking in their slips.
One is the off-ramp curve,
the other a sack of memories.
They hold out a pale promise
To any geometrician who is true
To his own somebodiness,
who knows love can be enjoyed.
He will cup those perfect shapes;
In fact, already, he gauges their heft.

Princess and the Mouse
after a poem by Jessica Garratt

She calls the mouse living with her
“it,” though he sleeps possessed
of her in bed, her rocky-weather
dreams landing between the two
on softly fingered, mousy feet.
A human “he” stayed with her too,
whose fear made the mouse a threat.

Vigil by the fire
Mouse hands whisper through her hair
Delicate at dusk.

“If I see it, I’ve got my .45,”
the boy friend told her, “or maybe I’ll put out poison.”
“You could set a trap under the chair,”
she answered, hoping not to find it alive.
The mouse heard this and could not think of a reason
why he should not wish to stroke her hair.

Will Reger has worked as a poet over the last 12 years. He has published online and in print, in the US and the UK, and has read his work in assisted living communities, classrooms in the K-14 ages, correctional facilities as an invited guest, local taverns, and many other scenarios, including public library readings. The city of Urbana has granted him two arts grants in support of significant projects encouraging poetry in the community. He is the Inaugural Poet Laureate (emeritus) for the city of Urbana, IL, and has published 2 volumes of poetry. He also plays a wide variety of flutes for amusement.