The Amazing Mr. X
Samba Pictures, 1948
Come, love. Let me show you the ocean,
or the graveyard, let me dazzle you
with a few piano notes.
I return to you because a con man never dies in plain sight.
No trick ghost torments you like I.
No slick-haired carnie takes what’s mine.
His type of cruelty comes on like kindness.
I prefer shadows. Let me
be your monster for a while.
Ace Boggess is the author of two books of poetry: The Prisoners (Brick Road Poetry Press, 2014) and The Beautiful Girl Whose Wish Was Not Fulfilled (Highwire Press, 2003). Forthcoming are his novel, A Song Without a Melody (Hyperborea Publishing), and a third poetry collection, Ultra-Deep Field (Brick Road). His writing has appeared in Harvard Review, Mid-American Review, RATTLE, River Styx, North Dakota Quarterly and many other journals. He lives in Charleston, West Virginia.
Come, love. Let me show you the ocean,
or the graveyard, let me dazzle you
with a few piano notes.
I return to you because a con man never dies in plain sight.
No trick ghost torments you like I.
No slick-haired carnie takes what’s mine.
His type of cruelty comes on like kindness.
I prefer shadows. Let me
be your monster for a while.
Ace Boggess is the author of two books of poetry: The Prisoners (Brick Road Poetry Press, 2014) and The Beautiful Girl Whose Wish Was Not Fulfilled (Highwire Press, 2003). Forthcoming are his novel, A Song Without a Melody (Hyperborea Publishing), and a third poetry collection, Ultra-Deep Field (Brick Road). His writing has appeared in Harvard Review, Mid-American Review, RATTLE, River Styx, North Dakota Quarterly and many other journals. He lives in Charleston, West Virginia.