MO NST ERSWAMPTHE

AT HOMEPoetry by Catherine Carter

Men’s Neckties

They’re power nooses choking offbrains from bodies, just enoughto prove a man is something morethan some bright rooster. His top draweris civilized and affluent,in charge, his status bought and spenton silk, the wormspun ornament.And yet, the swinging way they hang’s...suggestive, don’t you think? The thingsties say are all expressed aslant,but their glance is toward knife-creased pants:silk arrows pointing down at cocksthat crow through wire and fence and lock.It’s Y, not X, that marks the spot.

Catherine Carter, The Swamp Monster at Home