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"Update"

By |Posted Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2006, at 6:10 AM

Click here to listen to Cody Walker read this poem.

My latent superpowers, well, they're back: obliterate a marriage with my mind; bewitch the president, that lying sack of—Cody! Take it slow. In time I'll find

—please note, I'm speaking as my therapist—
the equilibrium that time affords.
I've also rerouted (I have a list)
(1) my neural pathways and (2) some fjords.

America's a country for the lonely,
the loony. Whitman said it years ago.
Remember, he could fly and he was only
an editor, a wingéd bearded schmo.

My powers have increased a hundredfold
since you left. Maybe a thousand-, all told.

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Cody Walker is a writer-in-residence at Seattle's Richard Hugo House. His poems have appeared in Shenandoah, Light, and Best New Poets 2005.

For Slate's poetry submission guidelines, click spacerhereyeshyperlinkPoetry SubmissionsSlate reads new poems from Oct. 1 to April 30. Manuscripts sent between May 1 and Sept. 30 will not be considered.To submit poems: Send, as a single attached document, up to three poems of no more than 50 lines each to editors@slatepoems.com. Use the poet's name for the subject line of the e-mail and for the title of the attachment. We prefer Word documents (.doc or .docx) to PDFs.Please include a brief, professional cover letter, including publication history, in the body of your email. Please limit submissions to one per poet per annual reading period. Simultaneous submissions are OK. Slate no longer accepts poetry submissions by mail. The email address editors@slatepoems.com is for poetry submissions only (or to notify editors of acceptance elsewhere of a poem under consideration at Slate). Other inquiries, etc., will not be addressed.10000false220061444537PMWednesdayJanJanuary161/4/2006 9:45:37 PM63271989937000000020061444537PMWednesdayJanJanuary161/4/2006 9:45:37 PM632719899370000000.Clickhere to visit Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project site.Click here for an archive of "Poet's Choice" columns from the Washington Post.