Ed Taylor
STILL LIFE WITH GIN, FALCON, SECRET

On the terrace, huddled
against sun,
………………..the ticking air
and hissing in the grass—

at the palazzo belfry suddenly
…………………………….a peregrine,
and the pigeons frozen, as only
…………………..the ice shifts
…………..and a lime drowns
at the edge of the world
you squint at as if distant,
held up in your hand—

rattle that glass now,
…………..coward,
call for help

Ed Taylor is the author of the novel Theo, the poetry collection Idiogest, the chapbook The Rubaiyat of Hazmat, and the forthcoming chapbook Cardinal Directions (fall 2017). His prose and poetry appeared most recently in The Literary Quarterly, The Moth (UK), Southern Poetry Review, Gargoyle, The Forge, St. Petersburg Review, North American Review, New World Writing, Clackamas Literary Review, and a 2016 anthology on the theme of drought.

Read more from Cleaver Magazine’s Issue #19.