Half
by Michael Prior
I am all that is wrong with the Old World,
and half of what troubles the New.
I have not seen Spain or the Philippines,
Holland or Indonesia. In the other room,
my grandfather nods off in front
of Wheel of Fortune. I have seen his Japan
in photos—the last good suit he wore,
grey, tailored in Kyushu. Believe
Pat Sajak is a saviour: he divines new riches
like water hidden from a dowser’s
willow switch, trembling through
unfamiliar territories, proffered
like a makeshift cross. The same
strange faith should be proof enough
of my current crisis. There was a game
we once played. I’m in it now.
The wheel turns, strobes its starlight
across another centrifuge, that spinning globe,
a kid’s finger skimming its surface,
waiting for it to stop. This is where I’ll live.
Michael Prior’s poems have appeared in journals across Canada, America, and the United Kingdom. The winner of The Walrus’s 2014 Poetry Prize, Grain’s 2014 Short Grain Contest, and Magma Poetry’s 2013 Editors’ Prize, Michael’s first full-length collection, Model Disciple, is forthcoming from Véhicule Press in 2016. In fall 2015, Michael will be starting an MFA in poetry at Cornell University.