Valerie Fox
NOVEMBER NIGHTMARE

My bag disappeared
with my passport, my keys
a little vial containing
a sliver of bone.

I was stalked by an ordinary man.

My bag reappeared on a table
like at an airport.
Stained. Light as air.
All that remained was a plastic comb
and some pennies.

I got separated from my daughter.
I had to sit across from a man
making super-small talk,
trying to keep me there
as long as possible.

It wasn’t my trauma it was somebody else’s.

I couldn’t have my bag back
even though it was only a limp husk.
An official person went upstairs
and threw it overboard.

This happened. There was a splash.

Valerie Fox is the author of several books, including The Rorschach Factory (Straw Gate Books), The Glass Book (Texture Press), and Poems for the Writing: Prompts for Poets, co-written with Lynn Levin (Texture Press). Insomniatic, a chapbook, is forthcoming from PS Books. Fox has published many poems and stories co-written with Arlene Ang, and has also published Bundles of Letters Including A, V and Epsilon, which is a compilation with Ang. Fox has published work in Painted Bride Quarterly, Philadelphia Stories, Ping Pong, Hanging Loose, Apiary, Juked, Cordite Poetry Review, qarrtsiluni, Mockingheart Review, Sentence, and other journals.

Image credit: Luke Strange on Flickr

Read more from Cleaver Magazine’s Issue #18.