Amidst the Junktique Dealer’s Goods & Moveables by Paula Bonnell

The genie is leaking out of the jar . . .
The entire shop is filled with a
          bluegreen sense of expectancy
This is not like the times when he comes
        whooshing out of the neck,
                   to attain his fullblown transparent magnificence,
                   his head resting against the pressed-tin ceiling
                   (so that his turban takes on a knobbled look)
                   and his feet still captive in the jar,
No, this time it’s a hairline crack
          and a different process . . .
The shape of everything here
          is outlined in tremor
And I breathe a certain something in the air

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Paula Bonnell’s poems have appeared in APR, The Hudson Review, Rattle, Spillway, and dozens more.  Her manuscript Airs & Voices was selected by Mark Jarman for a Ciardi Prize and published by BkMk Press; Message is her first collection; and Before the Alphabet, a story in free verse of a child’s kindergarten year, and tales retold are her chapbooks.  w: paulabonnell.net