Adrienne J. Odasso 

DANGEROUS GAMES
		For Gawain, or a version of him.

Where I'll find you is in a box
if your mark still exists, or laid

under stone with a fox at your neck
and all of the simple words prayed

set down there in lists, which are the locks 
of your hair long gone now. She said,

You are not who you are. Reflect
on what you gave, on what you wanted

to have. Are they the same?

Who did you save?


JUKEBOX

Alone again. God in the machine (or out of it) makes
no difference. The coin leaves my fingers, spins a while

on the girders, which weren't there before. My hand shakes
with the knowledge that seven years gone may mean a while 

is yet to come before I once more return. Faire un voeux.
The girders weren't there before, but the letters, the words

must still remain, must still be there, in the vast depths I'm sure
I left the music here (each last measure, every chord).


Adrienne J. Odasso is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the University of York (UK) English Department. 
Her poetry has appeared in Strong Verse, Aesthetica, Hum-Drum, and Succour magazines. 
Her short fiction has appeared in Issue #2 of Behind the Wainscot and in the recently released 
Ruins Terra anthology from Hadley Rille Books. New poetry will be appearing in issue #5 of Sybil's Garage, 
the 2008 Exhibition at Farrago's Wainscot, and in the upcoming Little Red Riding Hood anthology 
from Drollerie Press.