TABLEAU

In a flea market near
Spoon River, the proprietor
critiques E.L. Masters: “That gossip?
Look,

this is poetry.” The old fellow kneels,
takes a mildewed
gilt-edge book
from under a wobbly table-leg.


About Mark Blaeuer:
Mark Blaeuer, a gentleman of advanced age who lives on a mountainside about halfway between Little Rock and Texarkana, retired last year from his career as a park ranger. His M.A. is in anthropology from the University of Arkansas, where he used to skulk at English Department readings given by visiting luminaries. His own poems and translations have appeared in dozens of journals, including Bone Orchard Poetry, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, and Hobble Creek Review.