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Chris McCann

Earthly Paradise of Carteret

​The glistening dew
on the chain-link fence
reflects in miniature
the azure lakes that rise
with the ice melt.
In the strip mall donut shop
we stay up all night
on coffee and crullers,
the flakes of sugar falling
on the Formica tabletop like snow.
Someone should paint a picture
of this, you said, as we
watched the sun come up
over the auto parts store
with its shining chrome
and picture windows.
If there truly are ten thousand
things in the material world,
then why not write them all down
in a litany of praise?
The small dog in the shadows.
The busted taillight of a Mustang.
The surgical mask floating
on a rainbowed puddle.
I would do it, you said,
if only there was enough time
and I knew where to start.
The world lights up
like someone's idea of heaven.
It's right here, the tower
and walls of the prison
seem to say—don't let it go.
And for a second we have it,
we see it all laid out
like a painted Japanese scroll
far away from the earthly
world, a paradise preserved,
inviolate, impossible to regain.
Then let us become these visions
of storefronts, broken glass,
and grime. Since these
are the landscapes of our dreams,
let us populate them
with mountains and shadows
of mountains, and trees against
a yellow sky. Let us never
wake up.

Biography

Picture
Chris McCann (he/him) lives on Bainbridge Island in Washington. His work has been published or is forthcoming in Moss, The Pedestal Magazine, Interstellar Review, Noctua Review, Salt Hill Journal, and The Shore. 
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ISSN 2639-426X
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  • Home
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  • Issues
    • Issue 49
    • Issue 48
    • Issue 47
    • Issue 46
    • Issue 45
    • Issue 44
    • Issue 43
    • Issue 42
    • Issue 41
    • Issue 40
    • Issue 39
    • Issue 38
    • Issue 37
    • Issue 36
    • Issue 35
    • Issue 34
    • Issue 33
    • Issue 32
    • Issue 31
    • Issue 30
    • Issue 29
    • Issue 28
    • Issue 27
    • Issue 26
    • Issue 25
    • Issue 24
    • Issue 23
    • Issue 22
    • Issue 21
    • Issue 20
    • Issue 19
    • Issue 18
    • Serenity
    • Issue 17
    • The Audio Room
    • Issue 16
    • Issue 15
    • Issue 14
    • Play It Again
    • Issue 13
    • Issue 12
    • Issue 11
    • Issue 10
    • Issue 9
    • Issue 8
    • Issue 7
    • Issue 6
    • Hand to Mouth
    • Issue 5
    • Issue 4
    • Issue 3
    • Issue 2
    • Issue 1
  • Submissions