Excerpt from Bride of E

Mystery at Manor Close

                     --Quickly Brenda stepped aside and tripped up the Biology Mistress.

She puts her ticking wrist to her ear and hears a house
Full of Tock from the clock that is lacking a stem.
On the face it says Mickey and Mouse.
(All of which comes from within.)

She makes a wish: that the Heather who left her
In stormy weather will find herself
In the mire of desires that cannot be easily realized.
To your health, she says, and sticks out her foot.

To feel the fire in its place. Here’s to Bio-
In most of its many spheres. To the ear that hears
The clack of a gate latch. To the mouth and its legible
Little gray lies. To the brain with its hardwired fear.

And to cathexis, both far or near. Back at the manor,
There’s mystery: a van and a driver, a girl’s guide, a book.
The rescue of one in a basket about to be driven away by a crook.
The Freud finger puppet appears on state and says, in German,

“Yes, Liebchen, it’s true.
We are born to begin and to end
In infantile fury.”
The girl on the couch, who is listening, doesn’t say a word.

From Bride of E. © 2009 by Mary Jo Bang. All rights reserved.