ODE TO MY SHARONA | SHERMAN ALEXIE

It opens with that insistent drumbeat---
	And then comes that filthy bass riff---
		And then he pleads---
	He sings—he preaches---he lifts---
He st-st-st-st-st-stammers his need
For Sharona. He doesn’t hedge or hide----
	He interrogates---he declares---
		He sweats and swears---
He loves her kind---he wants her eyes and thighs---

And, damn, it makes me remember how much
	I wanted to solve the mystery---
		To ask and touch
	That girl---that girl---that pretty,
Pretty girl---O, hush---O, rush---O, blush---
She was every other constellation---
	She was a powwow bonfire---
		A red choir---
A deer drum shaking the reservation---

And though I haven’t kissed her in decades,
	I can still feel the sweet hurt
	Of removing her shirt---
Jesus, her scent and taste refuse to fade---
She was heat lightning----she was corona---
	She was storm---she was river flood---
	She was the salt inside my blood---
She was---she was---she was my Sharona.  



Ode to Jolene...>

Sherman Alexie is the winner of the 2007 National Book Award for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. He recently published the novel Flight and a collection of poems, Face. He lives in Seattle with his wife and two sons.

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WINTER 2010 COVER

THREE POEMS
SHERMAN ALEXIE

INCIDENT IN A TRAVEL AGENT’S
EDWARD MC WHINNEY

QUESTIONS
ANNA POTTER

THE ROCK, A DOUBLE ABECEDARIAN
LEAH WELBORN

ALLEGORY
KIKI PETROSINO

THE SAW LADY
ALEX CIGALE


REVIEWS
WITOLD GOMBROWICZ
ANDREW ZAWACKI
J.D. ABEL
KEVIN GOODAN
FRANCESCA KAY
BEN YAGODA
JESSIE LENDENNIEWinter_2010.htmlEdward_Mc_Whinney_Travel_Agents.htmlEdward_Mc_Whinney_Travel_Agents.htmlAnna_Potter_Questions.htmlAnna_Potter_Questions.htmlLeah_Welborn_The_Rock.htmlLeah_Welborn_The_Rock.htmlKiki_Petrosino_Allegory.htmlKiki_Petrosino_Allegory.htmlAlex_Cigale_Saw_Lady.htmlAlex_Cigale_Saw_Lady.htmlReviews_2010.htmlGombrowicz_Pornografia.htmlZawacki_Petals.htmlAbel_Epitaphs.htmlGoodan_Winter_Tenor.htmlFrancesca_Kay_Equal_Stillness.htmlBen_Yagoda_Memoir.htmlPoetry_Lendennie.htmlshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1shapeimage_3_link_2shapeimage_3_link_3shapeimage_3_link_4shapeimage_3_link_5shapeimage_3_link_6shapeimage_3_link_7shapeimage_3_link_8shapeimage_3_link_9shapeimage_3_link_10shapeimage_3_link_11shapeimage_3_link_12shapeimage_3_link_13shapeimage_3_link_14shapeimage_3_link_15shapeimage_3_link_16shapeimage_3_link_17shapeimage_3_link_18shapeimage_3_link_19shapeimage_3_link_20
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