After Suzanne Vega

She’s losing her identity again

   It started casually, when she told a few of her mother's stories

      as if they were her own

Then earnestly, as she realized she no longer knew the difference

the men that she’s known become

slippery, indistinguishable

from the pubescent nibblings

of another girl on her breast

t  there are imprints on her flesh

from an encounter she is sure was more than twenty years ago

She is almost positive

that she was raised Catholic

Why does she have memories of living on the West Bank?

                                    she has six pen names

                                                how many of them are real?

She avoids the houses of her lovers and friends

They seem to offer no way out once she is in

Jonathan Penton travels North America with two suitcases, a laptop, and a herd of feral cats. Many a town has observed his approach with vague curiosity, and many a town has sent him off with a hefty cleaning bill. Since neither he nor his cats are employable, he rarely backtracks. You can learn less about him at his web site, www.UnlikelyStories.org.