Poetry by Jay Hopler

What is there in all this clutter / That loves you?

Gadzooks! 
+++(being an apostrophe to my hands)

+++Poor dumb lugs, what loves you?
What is there in all this clutter
That loves you? Not the butter
+++Fly knife, not the corkscrew,
Not the thumbtacks scattered
++++++At the back of the junk drawer.
++++++& yet, you keep reaching. What for?

+++The fishhook, were it woo’d,
Would kiss you no differently than would it kiss
A trout’s soft mouth. The Swiss
+++Army Knife, the icepick, this wood
Chisel—. You’d bleed a lot less
++++++If you were a church, its steeple
++++++Reaching Heavenward; of course, you’d need
+++++++++fingers to make a steeple.

Jay Hopler’s most recent collection of poetry, The Abridged History of Rainfall, was a Finalist for the 2016 National Book Award in Poetry. He teaches in the writing program at the University of South Florida.