Jeffrey Morgan

The Stunt Double

Like a stone switched with a jewel,
in another world I’m thrown into the sky.
The day ends with my voice
still sleeping upside down in my body.
I need an x-ray to remember my life.
I sit in my car until whatever it is
returns to me, until going home stops
feeling like a crash scene.
I lean into the cold light
of the refrigerator.
A few hours ago I was burning
as a demonstration of villainous sincerity.
I used to get excited
when I’d see myself on screen.
Now I know you can’t become someone else
just by thinking of them as a costume.
That’s me again
in the faceless distance turning.

Jeffrey Morgan is the author of Crying Shame (BlazeVOX, 2011). More recently his poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Copper Nickel, Ninth Letter, Pleiades, Poetry Northwest, Rattle, and West Branch, among others. You can sometimes find him on Tumblr.