Bev Harp

B e v  H a r p

Entomology

She is scientific in her love.

She keeps his words in books,

pinned down

like an insect collection.

Many have their stingers

full of venom still attached.

That isn’t her concern.

She studies the design

of useless wings.

To Be Frank

I told her how I hated

peeling onions

until I cried,

sweating in the kitchen

95 degrees all year long.

I told her the boss

called me “retard”

and cheated the vendors,

that one of my friends

had been fired

from the restaurant

for giving garbage

to a homeless man.

She said

Sinatra hated

“Strangers in the Night.”

And she was right.

You can hear it

in the doobie doobie doo.

next