The adulteress
was her joke name for herself though
unfashionable & (except in the literal
sense) incorrect. She had to stop
attending dinner parties as someone
would inevitably say something
like, “I didn’t know which husband to
expect tonight!” or “Your husband” this/
“Your husband” that with her partner
sitting right there. She did not view herself
as a joke & yet this joke word “adulteress”
was in her head so she said to her daughter
who was learning to sew, “Can you make
a big red A & sew it on my black dress?”
Her daughter said, “Which black dress?”
& the woman said, “Every black dress.”
The H Man
His superpower was being the subject of ever-taller tales
about his prowess at hurling, a sport with prehistoric Gaelic
origins where players use hurleys (sticks) on a sliotar (ball),
aiming it over the crossbar of the goalpost for 1 point,
or under the crossbar of the goalpost into the net for 3.
Considered to be “the fastest player ever” in a sport known
to be “the world’s fastest field sport,” the H Man once broke
the nose of an opponent with his force plus his velocity
(though some say he broke his ribs or legs). He did not
“go professional” because there is no professional hurling,
but he did become a poet because that position does exist.
Kathryn Maris’s most recent poetry collection is God Loves You
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This article appears in the 30 Sep 2015 issue of the New Statesman, The Tory tide