The ghost-me appeared in my mirror
while I was out buying groceries.
By the time I got back he had taken
my place in the living room.
Now, most nights, we play backgammon
or one of the ancient games.
The ghost-me takes his time with every
move. It is his studied silence
that unnerves me most. His silence,
his ingenuity, his book-smarts.
Yesterday he asked me to move out. I
have nowhere to go. I have no one to
take me in. The ghost-me doesn’t
listen to such negativity. He says I
am only as good as I pretend to be.
I hate his homilies, too. The ghost-me has
replaced me now from tip to toe.
He asked me to write this to you, my wife.
Corey Mesler has published in numerous journals and anthologies. He has published two novels, Talk: A Novel in Dialogue (2002) and We Are Billion-Year-Old Carbon (2006). His first full length poetry collection, Some Identity Problems (2008), is out from Foothills Publishing and his book of short stories, Listen: 29 Short Conversations, will appear in March 2009. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize numerous times, and one of his poems was chosen for Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac. He has two children, Toby, age 20, and Chloe, age 13. With his wife, he runs Burke’s Book Store, one of the country’s oldest (1875) and best independent bookstores. He also claims to have written “These Boots are Made for Walking.” He can be found here.
