(mirror of Sappho, Fragment 31)

It’s not so difficult to talk to women. You need only sing under their window, bathe in the pond beside their front door. You there showing off your feathers.

It’s not so difficult to talk to women. You talk loudly and you carry a soft stick. You are an exterminator of something.

You drive a sedan with Security stenciled on the side. At the end of the night no one’s at home. You do not want to end your life most days. This is not difficult for you.

There is a woman behind the bar. The way she cleans the lip on the glass. The way she salts the rim. Her worn-out copy of what book—

There are good films by men. Good films by bad men. Separating the artist from the art 

My roving eye—

Her glance, my direction. She shines
The surface. What can I say. What can I say.

Mack Gregg’s poems have appeared or will soon appear in ITERANT, Witch Craft Magazine, b l u s h, Hot Pink Magazine, Anti-Heroin Chic, and elsewhere. They are currently pursuing their MFA in poetry at the University of Virginia.