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Rob MacDonald



HOW TO SURVIVE CHILDHOOD


A heart like a wiffleball. 

An old boat hull 
in which daisies grow. 

When you’re alone 
with a jackknife

and the swamp
is all cattail. 

A few firecrackers 
in isolation 

never hurt anyone.






ORIGIN STORY, PERPETUAL UNDERDOG


Your father was a left-fielder 
with a knack for snow-cone catches, 

putting out grease fires in Chinese kitchens, 

building custom rocking chairs 
from windblown oaks, 

manning the phones at a call center 
on a riverboat, 

investing in marbles and losing it all. 

Mom read the rough drafts 
and chiseled saints into baby teeth.






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Rob MacDonald lives in Boston and is the editor of Sixth Finch. His poems can be found in Gulf Coast, iO, notnostrums, Sink Review, H_NGM_N and other journals.  He has books forthcoming from Rye House Press and Racing Form.

published by
The Department of English
College of Humanities & Social Sciences
The William Paterson University of New Jersey
Copyright  © 2012-2018 Map Literary
Map Literary

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