At The Common, we’re celebrating Poetry Month with new work by five of our contributors.

JAMES HOCH

Fayum Portrait [Deal]

I’ve sent a map on wax paper–
What he loves arrayed as clumsy petals.
If it arrives,
someone will ink it in his back,
so it will go with him
like a paw stuffed in a casing,
boardwalk mojo to ward off the hail of RPG, AK,

FOB after FOB, Amputee Ward, TBI, Arlington.