after Sharon Suzuki-Martinez
Alfred Fournier


I wasn’t born so much as found myself alive / the sun was bright, like an overexposed
polaroid / faces floated above my bed / they might have been my family / Jesus was
dying on the wall / but mostly no one looked at him / brush cuts / checkered suits / First
Communion / no one told me the flesh of God / was going to taste like paper / Resumé:
altar boy, paper boy, outfielder / all short-lived / like Mom / maybe that was when it
started / this voice in my head / in my memory / it was always summer in Michigan /
Resumé: rib joint, Taco Bell, Burger King / college, thank God / lit, biology, bugs,
dissertation, desert / in that order / my wife was a mail order bride from China / just
kidding—we met at grad school / one thing nobody knows about me: / I always believed
Jesus was watching.

Alfred Fournier is an entomologist and community volunteer in Phoenix, Arizona. His poems have appeared in The Indianapolis Review, Third Wednesday, International Times, Hole in the Head Review and elsewhere. His poetry collection, “A Summons on the Wind” (2023) is available from Kelsay Books. alfredfournier.com.