Sonnet to My Crash Test Dummy

Abstract

Sonnet to My Crash Test Dummy Owen McLeod (bio) If you ask me, I’m the engineer involvedin identifying and interpreting these images.Maybe you know me. I really like this story,the one where we’re at a party and a wolfin uniform opens the door for a persondressed as Mickey Mouse. Is this the beginningof a lucid dream? I remember my first loveand how she kissed me. “Get up, get out of bed,”she said, but I didn’t obey. I brought my characterinto everything I did back then, including my lackof balance. Only later did I realize my mistake.As for my critics, I’ll tell you how I handle them:I sit inside, whether it’s gray or not, and watchthe men clutching their hats against the wind. [End Page 188] Owen McLeod owen mcleod’s second poetry collection, Before After, is forthcoming from Saturnalia Books. His debut, Dream Kitchen, won the Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry. His poems have appeared in New England Review, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, and many other journals. He teaches philosophy at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Copyright © 2023 Owen Mcleod ...