Melanie Browne- Two Poems

Angels & Demons

I dream of angels and
demons at night,
angels dressed like
businessmen in elevators
holding babies that look
like dogs and
demons steepling
their hands in ashrams,
the space heater hums
and the dog lies next to it
people march in Paris
against the evil
that swirls in the skies,
it's in the cold & wet
air that the dog doesn't
want to be in and the
cat doesn't want to be in,
and I don't want to be
in
I dream of Angels and
demons at night,
angels skiing high
in the alps and demons
hawking teeth whitening
cream on my television
people march in Paris
and the journalists
talk about it
and talk about it



Dirty Laundry

waiting to pick
up some shoes
i am having resoled
for my husband,
one of the proprietors
is speaking with
a customer who
is quite animated,
"His wife divorced him,
understandably, and
it was two felony counts, and
he can't move near
any schools,"
the proprietor
looks at him in
sympathy,
"you think you
know people,"
he continues,
The proprietor
asks me if he can
help me and he brings
out the shoes and
I can't help but smell
the yummy smell of
polish and leather
and he tells me to
have a good day
and I look
at the new
shiny shoes
ruined by
the dirty laundry
and I go
home and
take a bath