Kyle Flak

MABEL MY DEAR

you held my hand all through the new kung fu movie
we were at the mall
and then we were buying popsicles
later we were naked
much later than that you were showing me the pinball machine you keep
in your garage
i felt like we were too old for everything
you kept pulling champagne out of surprising places
i said, “okay. i get it. you’re a fun person.”
but then stuff kept happening
stuff is still happening

Kyle Flak is from Grand Rapids, Michigan. He won the Chris Toll Prize in 2014 for WHAT HANK SAID ON THE BUS, a manuscript from which these poems appear. His recent volumes of poetry include The Secret Admirer (Adastra Press, 2010) and Harmonica Days (New Sins Press, 2009). His writing has appeared in Mudfish, Poetry East, Spinning Jenny, Whiskey Island and various other literary magazines. He went to school at Northern Michigan University and the University of Massachusetts. Currently, he works at a library.