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Volume 2 Number 2 • Fall - Winter 2010-2011
Seaport: Reading Manga
Magnolia Trees in Rain
beginning my day
with lovestories with
fancy coffee
over ice
with this boy this girl
their faces
& thighs pressed
in the flat
gather
of my japanese
paperback
throwing little
shadows little
implications
on the small
e that follows
me
on seaport un
-zipping on distant
yachts
unfastened
from the blue
ocean
& south street here
& for another
hour—i'm late again
for biochem
at tokyo
university i'm
dumb i'm
into two undergrads
& their so
-wide eyes
drawn like
me
in b&w
Undone by their own
expressions, they lean with the storm like wet
lovers brushing their hair
across the breast of the street.
The rain
plays sideways
with signposts & taxis—lips hard
upon metal & skin, wide
blossoms & the untimid
cataract of this
summer night. Handsome
in their fallen petals,
one couple steps away
from underneath
these branches
& descends
the overrun curb —
their own embankments swollen,
they do not blush.
Todd Pederson is pursuing an MFA degree at Hamline University. His recent work is featured in the mnLit What Light program (www.mnartists.org), and What Light, an anthology that collects the work of 27 Minnesota poets. His criticism appears in online editions of the Rain Taxi Review of Books (www.raintaxi.com/online). Todd lives in Eden Prairie, Minnesota with his wife and two children, whom he thanks for their patience and inspiration.