POETRY BY ELIZABETH COHEN

otherlings

what is this? shadow

without a counterpart

riding the world

unattached

it slips down the sidewalk

to the gutter

like it belongs

kicks at a bit of curb

wraith-creature

mama ghost being

thing without

its thing

I’m thinking

it has come

here to collect

a someone, or maybe even

to snatch up me

(after it fell across my foot

on west 59th street

I became suspicious)

it has to have

a tether – right?

(as if I wouldn’t notice –)

like that time

I saw the bathroom mirror

reflecting the empty shower

behind it

in a place it had no right

to peer

otherlings are waiting for us

make no mistake

they bend the rules

the way you might

step across the street

before the light has turned

or snuck a supermarket grape

they are the things outside

the rules of the game

and they want in

I tell you

I’ve seen it

I have felt it

they want a share

in the world, they want a

piece of living

move your foot

kick up your heels walk fast if they come for you

grab a door handle

drink

water

ask your friends

to meet you

somewhere for lunch

stay in the known world

as best you can

drive fast

through night forests

don’t stop often

just go

hand it over

those things

outside the edges

marginalia flowers hands I’m drawing

little lines that defy

the borders

& suddenly become

critters with faces

smaller than gnomes

larger than insects

I’m drawing

these things

pen and ink

outside of paragraphs

outside of text country

the land of print

they shouldn’t bother anyone

really, unless

you ask the question:

where did they come from?

I know I do not know them.

They appeared on the page

as if I had put them there

with intent but clearly

these tiny monsters

are drawing me

somehow, despite the facts

here.

I have not been

particularly porous

lately yet they’ve gotten in

I’m looking for the exit ramp

If you see it, honk twice

I’m putting these gel pens away

shutting the book

leaving these margin

creatures outside the margins

in the flat country

of these pages

open this book

at your own risk

truly

Elizabeth Cohen is a poet from New Mexico and the author of six books of poetry, including the forthcoming Martini Tattoo (Alien Buddha Press), available in the fall of 2022. She holds an MFA from Columbia University.