Corey Mesler: "We Wanted Loose Change"

​We Wanted Loose Change

We spent long darknesses
over greasy food
in cracked booths and
washed out glasses.
We learned the difference
between lay and lie,
and between Susie who loved
and Laurie who never
would. We were full of
pain because we
felt better listing to one side.
In our fists we
carried the fight into the
light. We tried to make
poems out of whatever
we were holding. We
tried to make love out
of whatever we were holding:
phone numbers, cigarettes, loose
change. We wanted readers
and chums. We wanted loose change.

Corey Mesler has been published in numerous anthologies and journals including: Poetry, Gargoyle, FIve Points, Good Poems American Places, and Esquire/Narrative. He has published 9 novels, 4 short story collections, and 5 full-length poetry collections. He has been nominated for the Pushcart many times, and 2 of his poems were chosen for Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac. With his wife he runs a 141 year-old bookstore in Memphis. He can be found at: https://coreymesler.wordpress.com.