“So I said like why so he said like maybe” [by Molly Arden]

So he said on the job around the cock

So I said that’s hard

So he said what

So I said around the clock

So he said yes

that’s what i meant 

like it was like he looked straight

at you when he spoke

of guns versus flowers

or Matisee versus Picasso

as the century’s greatest artist

so I said typo

so he said type-A

so then we unambiguously

did the thing that has no name

the secret everyone knows

so no one ever spills the beans.

Lovely to be the goddess of Queens!

from the archive; posted by The Best American Poetry on August 13, 2008