<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s no longer morning.
\nThe weight of the day pushes into
\nmy eyes nose shoulders mouth it’s ok
\nI am going for a walk I am looking for
\nAlec Baldwin. He has come to me
\nand my neighborhood to hide inside our rain
\nno phones no lawyers no sunglasses just
\nthis October heat wave in the city of
\nSeattle. My name is Tatyana Mishel and
\nI am searching for Alec Baldwin stowed away
\nsomewhere in my hill-encrusted neighbor-
\nhood. I am a dolphin in a pod of air
\nswimming upstream and downstream.
\nCars unroll their windows drivers make
\neye contact smile like they know something
\nI wave at everyone hold my breath.<\/p>\n

I am sure the sun will out
\nAlec like a stink bomb in a rabbit hole
\nhe’ll explode from behind the glass of
\nhis bloated middle age TV screen
\nhe can’t hold the pale glare can’t keep
\naway from the candy dishes in the shops.
\n“It’s for the kids,” the pharmacist snaps
\nwhen I finger a baby Mars bar. “It’s for
\nAlec,” I reply and grab three pieces.
\nStriding low to the ground I am a mountain cat
\nas stealthy as Dick Cheney I am a 21st
\ncentury stalker and I feel okay hopping
\nfrom bush to bush I will not be tailed.<\/p>\n

This Case of Alec Baldwin unfolds
\nbetween the hours of 10 am and 2 pm
\nthree hot days before Halloween. I am
\na hunter filled with kisses,
\nchocolate in my pocket I know Alec
\nhas a sweet tooth. I know he’s sweating in
\nhis giant rental all alone throwing knives
\nat a wall with a mural of Kim, God
\nI hope his kid’s not there I don’t need
\nthat kind of trouble. “Baldwin, Alec,”
\nI say into my cell phone and the operator,
\nfemale stutters back, “in Seattle?”
\nI hang up. I have on a pink T-shirt
\na cream sweater tied at my waist I am
\nsporty and I can live with my original breasts
\nbouncing inside fibrous cotton. What I cannot
\nhave is a nickname. My name is not Tat or Taty
\nor Tater. I could be Tatyana Baldwin no
\nTatyana Mishel Baldwin that’s better.<\/p>\n

I’m sick today or that’s the story I told my boss
\neven though my hair is full of waves my skin is
\nbeige I am generally a brownish tone this is
\nnot Alec’s type but I would be good for him
\nI’d put him on a diet of salmon and water
\nget him running let some air out of his body.
\nSitting on a corner I try to collect my thoughts
\nbut all I have is a flash of James Taylor
\nsinging Sweet Baby James and shooting
\nup heroine left right and center. Alec understands
\nvices. Then: A bleat of sirens, a fire truck in
\nno hurry rolls by I run behind it yell,
\n“Are you going to Alec’s, is he OK?”
\nThe beautiful shoulders riding on the back gives
\nme a princess wave, Oh brother they’re all
\ngay anyway. By now I’ve walked in a loop,
\nI have arm pit sweat yes, me, Tatyana Mishel no
\nmiddle name no nickname I believe
\nin circular patterns, standing work stations and Fibonacci
\nI have walked into the middle of my own personal spiral
\ncall it a womb pattern where I began this pilgrimage
\ntoday at the market after hearing whispers
\nof “Alec” and “around here somewhere,”
\nso I buy three red dahlias and three peppermint chocolates\u2014
\nin case his crazy-ass daughter is here, too. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

after “Homage to Sharon Stone” by Lynn Emanuel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ducts.sundresspublications.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ducts.sundresspublications.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ducts.sundresspublications.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ducts.sundresspublications.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ducts.sundresspublications.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ducts.sundresspublications.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ducts.sundresspublications.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ducts.sundresspublications.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ducts.sundresspublications.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}