American Padlocks
Michael James Martin
[Total Pages: 5]
Martin Page 1

"Padlocks are manufactured with solid bodies made of case hardened steel, solid brass or anodized aluminum. Shackles are of case hardened steel or boron alloy construction; cylinders are solid brass."
-- Patt Corporation

1.
Miss Blabbermouth's makeup tattoos are what
     make her so sweet.
Ant Queen when the hill is a bar; she wipes spit
     off her lips
shakes the bottle
hears the swish 'n' gurgle and says Keep 'em
     coming baby until chlorine's in her nose
she's submerged, no one knows
within the underground wonderland Alice
     hasn't seen. Mr. Kineval's


pit stop padlock Deathshop doom leap
where sidewalks end in steep drops.
And that's how she likes it: cold fevers
shotgun shivers, which is how she got married,
     so
yes, that's how she likes it.

2.
Can we see the silver lining
of her panties dilapidated and comfortable
vines, brass belt clicked closed
tangled, we haggled and bragged
failed, wondered whether discussing gender
      incongruities
would change any of our locks, let us Be men not
      Requisites expired
or . . . Conversationalists, lover-fighters,
      sensitive brutes with wartorn hands