James Shea
WAKE
Shirt came to mourn my chest.
Shoes, the arches of my feet.
Cufflinks, my wrists. Hat, my head.
Socks, my toes, and buttons, my fingers.
Tie came to mourn the nape of my neck.
Belt, my waist. Jacket, my shoulders.
Glasses, my temples and bridge of my nose.
Underwear came and cried at the casket.
Underwear, who knew me best.
JAMES SHEA is the author of two books of poetry, The Lost Novel and Star in the Eye, both from Fence Books. A former Fulbright Scholar in Hong Kong, he teaches in the Department of Humanities and Creative Writing at Hong Kong Baptist University, where he is also the Associate Director of the International Writers’ Workshop.
ISSUE SEVEN features fiction by Maud Casey, Su-Yee Lin, Sabrina Orah Mark, and JoAnna Novak; nonfiction by Jenny Boully, D. Gilson, Joanna Luloff, Josip Novakovich, and Spencer Reece; film by Will Stockton; poetry by Samuel Amadon, David Baker, Adam Clay, Steffi Drewes, Rachel Galvin, Joshua Harmon, Endi Bogue Hartigan, Kirsten Ihns, Jennifer L. Knox, Emily Sieu Liebowitz, Jeffrey McDaniel, Aleš Šteger, Peter Streckfus, Adrienne Su, Matthew Thorburn, G.C. Waldrep, and C. Dale Young.