Bruce waits for the gate agent to board the first class passengers. The gate agent is fat, he thinks and wrinkles his nose. A few people walking by recognize him—a man in a cheap suit, an older couple wearing ugly shoes. He watches their eyes flit over him as if he were an ordinary person, […]
Jennifer L. Knox
Jennifer L. Knox
Jennifer L. Knox‘s new book of poems, Days of Shame and Failure, will be published by Bloof Books in 2015. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and four times in The Best American Poetry series. She teaches at Iowa State University.
Jennifer L. Knox: Ode to the New Girl at the Office
O new girl at the office! How many young girls I’ve watched come and go afore ye in their itty-bitty Charlie’s Angels t-shirts, the shit brown trim around the neck and sleeves like donkeys’ halos, and O! shiny tennis shoes with soles sprongy as bubble baths. How the body glitter settles in the creases of […]
Jennifer L. Knox: The Best Thanksgiving Ever
After the meal, Sandy decided we should spice up charades by slapping the loser’s butt with a ping-pong paddle. Whenever Ed got slapped, he farted because he was so nervous. The ladies won, slapped all the men’s butts, but then what to do? “Take off your clothes!” I told Sean, who didn’t seem like the […]
Jen Knox: Kisses Sweeter Than Wine
Apparently, all those margaritas and cocaine Have saddled me with a profound bout of diarrhea. Two days on, and the illness shows no sign of waning. Each whale-like moo that emanates from my black, Empty abdomen fertilizes the seeds of my disconcertment. Vicodin would temporarily assuage the situation, But for how long, and what of […]
Jen Knox: Feelings of Sadness and Beauty by a Lake with Horses
I. According to this month’s bill from Sallie Mae Services, I owe $30,000 on the student loans For my Master of Fine Arts Degree In poetry writing. In order to pay this debt off before I die, I could write 3,000 poems And sell them for 10 bucks a pop. Or I could write 300 […]