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Stock
Mary Makofske

Some put no stock in character.
Some stock up on honesty and courage.
Some like the feel of a gunstock
against a shoulder. Some prefer
livestock—a soft muzzle, the click
of a heart against a feathered chest.
Some won’t buy stocks in fossil
fuels. Some stock up on dividends.
Some dividends don’t pay out
in cash or come due for decades.

Some stock up on gold or silver.
Some hoard sunsets, moonrises.
Some put stock in celebrities.
Some prefer celestial stars.
Some build underground shelters
stocked with provisions. Some
stock up on friends, keep food
on shelves for impromptu potlucks.
Some take stock of their lives before
they end. Some end without taking stock.

—
Mary Makofske’s lastest books are World Enough, and Time (Kelsay, 2017) and Traction (Ashland Poetry, 2011), winner of the 2010 Richard Snyder Award. Her chapbook The Gambler’s Daughter is forthcoming from The Orchard Street Press. Her poems have appeared in Poetry East, The American Journal of Poetry, Southern Poetry Review, Spillway, Talking River Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, and other journals and in nineteen anthologies.

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