jay brecker

DR. POZZI AT HOME
—after JOHN SINGER SARGENT

could I be

would I become inside out & wear scarlet

—a question of blocked roots—

dressing gown red slippers pose

& vamp

was dressed in

—pretty buttons call me that—

eyes so green & blue could open me

up close me down first tart sips of &

I'm soft

think eggs poached

& I want something retro

—that scent I'll never know again—

& I like to tinker open robe descent &

rising

in request

a hand a leg a hem

work harder & do it now I'm not there

not someone I

had known

Jay Brecker walks and writes in southern California. His poems are forthcoming or have appeared in Rattle Poets Respond, Birdcoat Quarterly, The Shore, Permafrost, Lily Poetry Review, Ocean State Review, RHINO Poetry, and elsewhere. His manuscript, blue collar eclogue was a national finalist for the 2022 Hillary Gravendyk prize.