(John Gallaher)
John Gallaher is the author of the books of poetry, Gentlemen in Turbans, Ladies in Cauls (Spuyten Duyvil, 2001), The Little Book of Guesses, winner of the Levis Poetry Prize, from Four Way Books, and Map of the Folded World, from The University of Akron Press, as well as the free online chapbook, Guidebook from Blue Hour Press. Other than that, he's co-editor of The Laurel Review and GreenTower Press. Currently he's working on a co-authored manuscript with the poet G.C. Waldrep, titled Your Father on the Train of Ghosts, due out in Spring 2011 from BOA Editions.
I Have Only Known Careless Love
The dolls are dreaming again
of the house with hinges.
Letting their poses drift,
they’re saying the blue sky
with one white cloud
where they come together
some afternoon.
Because the head is a cage
in which a bird sits.
Because of all the houses.
You pour vodka into a glass.
The dolls, right. A doll pours vodka.
A doll is leaning against the window.
You’re one of them,
they say to each other
before the empty drawers.
The sky full of ventriloquists.