AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This poem started as a multi-stanza behemoth, and as I pared back extraneous detail, I found that the poem increased in impact the shorter and more compressed I made it. Niedecker was right about working at that condensery.

BIO:

Casey Thayer holds an MFA from Northern Michigan University and has poems forthcoming in The Journal, Poetry, Quarterly West, and elsewhere. He teaches English at the University of Wisconsin-Rock County.