Roman a Clef

Hudson Review, The, Autumn 2002 by Stallings, A E

Thrilling it is to shove your hand in the pocket

Of last-year's overcoat, and fish out a key

Unattached to any keyring, and to be

At a loss. You pick your brain. What was the lock it

Turned the tumblers of, its sharp relief

The hidden negative? Surely it's strange

The music in your head should so key change

From major to minor, the signature of grief.

Is this what a mystery hinges on, a clue,

Ingots, a murder weapon, stuffed in a bank box?

Does its jigsaw fit the puzzle? Does it twist the plot,

Some other life this clicks in and unlocks,

The shuttered house of a lover you forgot,

Who wasted away, even whose name escapes you?