Here is the plot: A boy built a home
\nWith a girl who gave him money.
\nShe wouldn\u2019t say where she found it, though
\nThe money was awfully dirty.<\/p>\n
The word is a plot: a suitcase.
\nIn the suitcase are trousers, papers.
\nOn the papers are colorful words.
\nOne says \u201ctomorrow,\u201d though it\u2019s unclear<\/p>\n
Whether tomorrow happened or not.
\nSo they construct the plot from one
\nThing no one remembers but what
\nThey will all someday separately know.<\/p>\n
Here is what they know so far:
\nIt\u2019s important not to love the oppressor.
\nIf nothing happens tomorrow
\nThey might have found this out for naught.<\/p>\n
And now for some fancy description
\nTo keep you hooked while the plot gets thick:
\nForty-two ex-servicemen
\nAre dusting the handle for prints.<\/p>\n
Just so you know: The suitcase gets picked.
\nThe tenderfoot in charge of watching it
\nCouldn\u2019t resist the almond croissants.
\nZing: He comes back and is staring at zilch.<\/p>\n
In the distance What\u2019s-Her-Name starts to sing
\nAs if skin\u2019s afire. The place clears out.
\nThat\u2019s when the train starts to roll.
\nA hundred hurried souls scramble off,<\/p>\n
Among them one never here before
\nWho hands out pencils hoping for change.
\nSoon the whole place empties
\nAnd the singing rises again. . . .<\/p>\n
Finally it boils down to this:
\nDo you love this place we call earth?
\nShould you, in fact, take advice from a mole?
\nOr go for a roll in the sack?<\/p>\n
Or should you turn to abstract things
\nLike law and sounds and classroom design?
\nNo telling. The bag with the clue is gone.
\nThe girl who lost her foreskin asks,<\/p>\n
Have you seen a suitcase, kinda like a bag?
\nThe boy begins to laugh and then
\nBuilds a home with the money though
\nThe money was awfully dirty.<\/p>\n
Oceans swallow the rivers
\nAnd trees. The water ascends.
\nEven that which has been long dead
\nIs gracefully dying again.<\/p>\n
But not lantern fish
\nHovering in a lightless surf,
\nA lamp hanging over its eyes.
\nIt illuminates its turf.<\/p>\n
O bobbing 0 and an
\nOmission within the black,
\nA reader huddled with a book,
\nAn alien in a sack.<\/p>\n
Far below the land\u2019s silt shelf
\nLantern fish light-full slides.
\nBy following its own self
\nLantern fish follows the light.<\/p>\n
MARK WAGNER teaches at Nichols College in Dudley, Massachusetts. His collection, A Cabin in a Field<\/em> appeared in 2001 with Mellen Poetry Press. At present, he is completing a PhD in Education at RMIT in Melbourne, Victoria.<\/p>\n (c) Copyright 2006, Mark Wagner; author retains all rights.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here is the Plot Here is the plot: A boy built a home With a girl who gave him money. She wouldn\u2019t say where she found it, though The money was awfully dirty. The word is a plot: a suitcase. In the suitcase are trousers, papers. On the papers are colorful words. One says \u201ctomorrow,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"parent":71,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/86"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/86\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/86\/revisions\/87"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/71"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}