The National Poetry Review
Kimberly Ann Priest
I LOVE VINTAGE LAMPS
And covet the owl lamp at a local antique dealer, running
my hands over its smooth chestnut varnished figure—a bird
perched on a pole and steadied on a base. All hand carved
and covered with an equally vintage tweed shade. I know now,
what I didn’t know then: I was your cover—cover story
as they call it, while you, like a heat-seeking missile, preyed
on other gay men, even during the weeks surrounding
our wedding. Now, you are semi-uncloseted and say you don’t like
pride gays. I carry the lamp to the front of the store, a tag
for sixty-nine dollars twirling from its switch. {Some
of my favorite people are pride gays.} I pay and watch the dealer
remove the shade and wrap the owl in stiff white paper.
It’s one of those finds that thrills you at first sight. I didn’t
want you at first sight, though you said you wanted me—a young
woman—right away. The lamp will sit atop a stand in my entryway;
I’ve never been able to decide what you wanted me for.
You didn’t like vintage lamps back then. Now, I’m told, you do.
KIMBERLY ANN PRIEST is the author of Slaughter the One Bird, finalist in the American Best Book Awards, and chapbooks The Optimist Shelters in Place, Parrot Flower, and Still Life. She is an associate poetry editor for Nimrod International Journal of Prose and Poetry and assistant professor at Michigan State University.
The National Poetry Review 