Marc Sheehan
Minor Late Empire Diversions
High bright cumulus clouds share the sky
with gulls, as in that painting by Constable,
hanging in this museum of the moment.
The plastic back-porch table,
pierced by a tropical-print umbrella,
keeps slanting Michigan sun at bay.
Shade shifts as daylight
achieves zenith. Croquet balls dot the lawn.
A sweaty gin and tonic is precisely
the right kind of late empire diversion –
the bottle sporting Victoria’s portrait,
quinine curing diseases creeping
a little closer to home every year.
Marc J. Sheehan is the author of two full-length poetry collections —— Greatest Hits (New Issues Press) and Vengeful Hymns (Ashland Poetry Press), and a chapbook of poems, Limits to the Salutary Effects of Upper Midwestern Melancholy (Split Rock Review). He has published stories, poems, essays and reviews in numerous literary magazines including Paris Review, Prairie Schooner, and Michigan Quarterly Review. His flash fiction has been featured on NPR’s Three-Minute Fiction series as well as on the program Selected Shorts. He lives in Grand Haven, Michigan.
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