Arrangements
by Sean G. Meggeson
You said my kiss is a disappearance act
then quoted something from Freud’s late work.
You said we’d keep money close as backup
to ward off loss like a rosary at blackjack.
And what a killing we made at first, just fresh
meat unindentured from its own living source.
You said core faith begs no witness like sharing
a bed shelters sparrow dreams in cupped hands.
But now I dial new numbers for dinner.
Hungrier and just plain dumber than cattle,
I stand & wonder how mud makes
a home & how aimless scratches archive
a shadow history of body codes. I promise,
I haven’t forgotten the Township of Uxbridge
clouds over East Gwillimbury
like Penetanguishene crests
Midland & Peekaboo Point, those
sad marshlands where we liberated
liturgy to later fling like litigation against
an aged population creased by love's grunt work.
You said geography is escape & living it
made us as dark as latent figures in Hopper.
You said coffee is an old-time anorectic
& bad breath is always a forfeiture of words.
I drank those dregs & disappeared myself
skyward, scattering over fields blown
kisses as light as ash from burnt offal.
I then turned my bad back on made bets,
so that now by the foot of a bed your figure
says one word—‘fine’—over & over, while
the cattle wander home bemused there is no
real home apart from that standing word, ‘find.’
A requiem's tapping at my windowpane. Clapping
once, I nod and say dishes don't do themselves.
Sean G. Meggeson is a Canadian poet and sound artist working with poetry, spoken word, and soundscape. His poetry and prose have appeared in Queen’s Quarterly, The Temz Review, Version(9) Magazine, IceFloe, Azarão Lit Journal, and numerous other publications. He received the League of Canadian Poets’ Spoken Word Award in 2024. His spoken-word and soundscape works have appeared internationally in journals, podcasts, and festivals. His recent work includes the poetry collection j: poems and the album SAY PLEASE. His piece The Capacity to Be Alone was selected for Radiophrenia 2026 in Glasgow.