Fingergun, by Matt Rasmussen

Matt Rasmussen's Fingergun is out and available. For those of you going to AWP, I will have copies.
















from Fingergun

Dream after Suicide

My brother stood
in the refrigerator light
drinking milk that poured
out of his head

through thick black curls,
down his back into a puddle
growing larger around him.
My body stood between

the living room and kitchen,
on the metal strip dividing
the carpet and linoleum.
He couldn’t hear his name

clouding from my mouth,
settling in the fluorescent air.
I wanted to put my finger
into the hole,

feel the smooth channel
he escaped through,
stop the milk
so he could taste it,

but my body held
as if driven into place.
The milk on the floor
reflected the light,

then became it.
Floated upward and outward
filling every shadow,
blowing the dark open.

Copyright © by Matt Rasmussen, 2005.