One poem by Todd Mercer

Note to Ingenue, Near North Side

I’ll see you at the Water Tower,

when you’re feeling better than me,

down with winter heaviness, and a squeeze

of angina. What are ya gonna do? I’ll look out

for you, where the enormous straw draws

all of the city’s supply. So much it seems endless.

Isn’t. That’s another day’s issue. Come see me

outside St. James chapel, in the shade

of the John Hancock, ticker ticking better

than it has in a while. Drop that pointless malaise

off the Skyway Bridge on the inbound trip.

Think Spring, see me North of the river.

Remember who you are.

I’ll take your picture at the Tower,

an icon in front of another icon. My view.

Meet me when the winter’s over, or it’s in retreat.

TODD MERCER won the Dyer-Ives Kent County Prize for Poetry (2016), the National Writers Series Poetry Prize (2016) and the Grand Rapids Festival Flash Fiction Award (2015). His digital chapbook, Life-wish Maintenance, appeared at Right Hand Pointing. Mercer's recent poetry and fiction appear in The Drabble, Eunoia Review, The Lake, Peacock Journal, and Vending Machine Press.