Jessica

a poem by Mik Grantham + news and events

The newest Mik Grantham poem appears in full below, but you can save it to your camera roll in four handy images right here from the jump.

Jessica by Mik Grantham

Mik is the founder and co-editor of Disorder Press, which she runs with her brother, and the author of the poetry collection HARDCORE (Short Flight/Long Drive Books). She lives in New Orleans, where she owns Lowpoint, a cafe and small bookshop in the Upper Ninth Ward.

MORNING, FUCKERS: DALLAS & AUSTIN

Our traveling early-riser reading series is coming to Dallas at Deep Vellum on July 19 at 10am and Austin at Livra Books on July 20 at 10am. There will be short readings from

Alina Grabowski

,

Brian Allen Carr

, John Waddy Bullion (

Jack Bullion

),

Mike Nagel

, Kyle Seibel (

kyle r seibel

), and

Adam Voith

. Free donuts. Books and magazines to purchase.

PERSONNEL UPDATE

Please meet

Avery Gregurich

, a writer living and working in Marengo, Iowa. To begin, Avery was the first reader for poetry, then first reader for everything, and now he is the Little Engines submissions manager. Avery was the one to flag Mik’s poem. Additionally, please welcome Kyle Anderson. You’ve seen his text collage work in recent publications. Kyle has a new collage paired with Mik’s poem today, and if we’re lucky, his art will continue to accompany publications for a while. Lastly, many have asked who typeset and designed the Archive book. That’s

Hadley Hendrix

. She’s excellent.

collage: Kyle Anderson

JESSICA
by Mik Grantham

sitting out front
on the benches
one leg crossed over the other
underneath the kumquat tree
it is not yet 8 am

i want one of those
five dollar cookies
she says

jessica lives behind the shop
on kentucky street
with her grandmother
i’ve known her for so long
she never remembers my name
i’m a nameless lady in an apron
dragging metal
cafe tables and chairs
across the concrete
outside

jessica opens her eyes
wide wide wide
they might
pop out of her skull

i’m just enjoying the breeze
she says

i have two cookies saved from yesterday
i will give her later
after i finish opening up
i am trying to sell the fresh baked goods
because we need the money
we need to make a certain amount of
money
every day
every week
month
year
that’s what my accountant said last tuesday

all day long jessica will sit outside
she wants a dollar
she wants a cigarette
she wants a beer
and some lemonade
she wants to enjoy the breeze
in peace
she wants so many cups
full of ice cold water
over and over and over again
i will fill her
cups of ice cold water
and people will come in all day
buying her things
and they will make sure i know
it’s for the lady outside
on the bench
underneath the kumquat tree
not for them
not for them
it’s for the lady outside

just buy someone outside
something without telling me
just buy jessica a goddamn sandwich

all i want is to
feel a light breeze
and the warmth of sun on the skin of my cheeks
to eat a sandwich on
a bench underneath a kumquat tree
in silence
but not alone
with you
with you

i smile at jessica
as i sweep up old cigarette butts
from last night or long ago
and i say
yeah, the breeze
it’s nice this morning, isn’t it?

but there is no breeze and it’s still
85 degrees on November 6th

MIK GRANTHAM is the founder and co-editor of Disorder Press, which she runs with her brother, and the author of the poetry collection HARDCORE (Short Flight/Long Drive Books). She lives in New Orleans, where she owns Lowpoint, a cafe and small bookshop in the Upper Ninth Ward. Her interviews and work have previously appeared in Believer Magazine, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Juked, Southwest Review, New World Writing, Maudlin House, and elsewhere.