Glen Armstrong
Songs About Houseflies
Our love falls into the soup
like the offspring
of cigarette
and disbelief.
Outside, the roosters
spoil the wild violets.
I start thinking of my hands
as sticky trash
that my shirt is trying to throw away.
Workers gather in the orchard
to sing songs about houseflies.
What rises amid the heat
they throw off
glows, and fades.
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Glen Armstrong holds an MFA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and teaches writing at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. He edits a poetry journal called Cruel Garters and has a forthcoming book of prose poems: Invisible Histories. His work has appeared in Poetry Northwest, Conduit, and Cream City Review.