"His laughing ribs grind a whale song." -Patrick Culliton, from Hornet Homily

Complications

I’m stuck suspended

in mid air

in the middle of a room

with a white door

and white walls

and a white carpet

and there is no gravity

when there is no gravity

like this

you can’t move

no matter how hard you try

I kick and scream

and flail about

but I do not move

the door never opens

behind me

my shadow sits and watches

"Like a bag of kittens thrown by the bride." -Abraham Smith, from Whim Man Mammon

Buffalo

I told you that

I was sorry

I told you that

you were a snake

or at least that

your shadow

was of a snake

you told me that

I was no better

you told me I was

a goat or a goat

shadow

together we make

an elephant sitting

in the shade

and we feel very naked

when our shadows

disappear in the sun

"The chimney sweep was quite delicate as he giggled up through the soot." -Charles Bukowski, from The People Look Like Flowers At Last

Elements

You’ll walk into the forest

and all the glowing trees

will surround you

as they start picking

you apart with their

giant limbs and clumsy

leafy fingers you’ll feel

like a flower and

you’ll remember the first time

you ever came to this forest

back when the trees

were only trees and

hadn’t started glowing yet

back when you didn’t feel

like a flower you felt like

a child

back when the river wasn’t

still and stagnant and flies

buzzed around

you’ll think fondly

of those days as you lose

your parts of you

to the surrounding trees

and you’ll realize

that this death is a giant

game of loves me loves me not

and you’ll hope to end

on loves me

"You try to work for people You let the people down." -Dorothea Lasky, from Black Life

Catharsis

I went out to the field

where I once saw

hundreds of elephants

galloping around like

wild horses

to try to join them

once I got close enough

I noticed that these weren’t

regular sized elephants

they were the size

of stuffed toy elephants

I managed to touch one

as it galloped by and it felt

like a stuffed toy elephant

I began to feel like a child

again so I grabbed a few

of them and began squeezing them

and throwing them in the air

and laughing hysterically

when I finally became aware

of my surroundings again

I noticed all the little elephants

had stopped dead in the field

some on their sides and backs

I walked around and picked up

a few but they remained lifeless

a cool breeze came over the field

and it seemed like something

had its breath taken away

still determined to join them

I fell to the ground on my side

and tried to stop breathing

been here ever since

"Getting the toes of the children wet, whether they are there or not." -Sawako Nakayasu, from Texture Notes

Cringe

I climb up the ladder

to change the light bulb

only that the light bulb

didn’t really need changing

it just didn’t emit

enough of a light

to my liking

I replace things

in this way

light bulbs

shoes

you

me

we all didn’t emit

enough of a light

and so we were replaced

with brighter versions

and we now live in the world

of things replaced by me

like ghosts haunting

an old hotel

and we say things like

BOO

when we really mean things like

BOO

"You can't see the painting if you're in the painting, and I can't see the painting." -Paul Killebrew, from Flowers

Nothing Wrong Here

I’m in close proximity

with maybe ghosts

like shadows you can barely see

and they all breath softly

down my neck

they tell me things like

nice weather we’re having

or

they have good sandwiches here

but I know they don’t

really mean those things

they don’t really care

for the weather

they don’t like

sandwiches particularly

what they really want

is me

and I’m afraid that I’ll

fall for one of their tricks

one day

and go for a stroll in the sun

or choose a sandwich here

and I'm afraid that I've stopped

being able to tell the difference

"I look all night but you swim with flow charts written miles from here." -Julie Doxsee, from Objects for a Fog Death

Well I Don’t Know

All the birds are coming together

converging is a better word

for the piles of bird-food

only that these aren’t piles of bird-food

I try to tell them

these are hundreds

of rabbits

these are bears

all hibernating

these are different types of trees

growing in the forest

this is me and this

is my shadow

this is your finger

and it’s in your nose

the birds don’t understand me

they all swoop down

hawks vultures penguins pigeons chickens

every bird

and they start

with the rabbits and bears

the forest is devoured

soon enough

you’re devoured

soon enough

and now all the birds are

advancing on me slowly

the kings of this new world

covered in bird shit

and I pray that they don’t eat me

but I wish they would just eat me

"You-hold this bucket of milk. And you-emerge from darkness." -Heather Christle, from The Difficult Farm

Service

I was taking a bath

and this was where the confusion began

I couldn’t tell where I stopped

and the water began

I couldn’t remember whether my parents

were people or droplets

I couldn’t remember whether people

were solids or liquids even

it’s like the water took me in as it’s own

or I took the water in as my own

and we were both happier that way

it was then that I wished

that the bath would never end

and the truth is I only washed

behind my ears because the movies

told me to do so

"Won't you return if horses buckled bears into a hem in the woods?" -Joshua Marie Wilkinson, from Selenography

Coins

You ask me what I’m made of

and I tell you this

sparrow bones and dust

and bits of thin glass

so I break easily

to demonstrate this

I lowered my head and ran

as hard as I could into a wall

I did the exact same thing

again

I did the exact same thing again

and I wished that the sky

would fall on me

and crush me

"Good night Meredith." -Mathias Svalina, from Destruction Myth

Fruit Juice

I’m part bear part human

but only I know this

the best way I can explain this

is I’m made up of some bear

parts and some human parts

for example

my stomach is bear

my arms are human

my lungs are bear

my knees are human

my kidneys are bear

my neck is human

everything that has to do

with my appearance is human

all of my inside-works

are bear

there is only one thing

that is half and half

and that is my brain

my human half brain

recognizes how sad I am

for being such a contradiction

my bear half brain recognizes

how delicious I look

I fall asleep scratching myself

until my skin is raw

every night

"...and watch each other like stars we don't know are dead." -Zach Schomburg, from Scary, No Scary

Berry Tree

I’m falling from a very

great height and the clouds

are my family or that’s what

they keep telling me

as they brush me

across my cheek ever so

slightly as I careen

down through them

I ask them

what do I do when

I get there

they brush me across

my cheek and tell me

not to worry about that just yet

"I dragged the tail and middle across the road and laid them beside the head because snake+snake+snake=snake." -Sherman Alexie, from Face

Wafers

You’ll sneak up on a family

of ducks at the pond

and you’ll watch them swim

for a moment before

you crash into the water after

them yelling never change

as they fly off alarmed

you’ll feel a sense of abandonment

you’ll walk back to your home

and put on an old record

that you listened to years ago

and that you claim changed you forever

and you’ll forget that ducks

aren't ducks aren't ducks really

"Sometimes it isn't time for so long I forget what I'm hoping it's time for." -Suzanne Buffam, from The Irrationalist

Portal

You’ll walk into the house

and you’ll be told

sweetheart don’t be scared

you’ll be sat down

in the middle of a dark

room that looks like your

childhood room

but like a slightly

larger version

in fact everyone

in the room seems

slightly larger than

they should be

the one that looks like your mother

the one that looks like your father

the one that looks like you

you’ll ask

what this is all this about

you’ll be told

sweetheart don’t be scared

we’re just going to make you

more human

and the one that looks like your mother

will start poking you in your temples

and the one that looks like your father

will start stepping on your feet

and the one that looks like you

will stick a finger in each of your nostrils

and it will be an overall unpleasant

experience

but you will realize that

to be more human

isn’t anything more

than being poked and stepped on

and having fingers in your nostrils

"Yet later in our place an ugly toad half-opens its thick eyelid and one sees clearly: 'That's me.'" -Czeslaw Milosz, from Facing the River

Tea Leaves

Don’t be afraid when

all the orange leaves

float up and affix themselves

back on their tree

the trees will shrink

to saplings

and disappear

this will happen

with frogs as well

they’ll become tadpoles

and shrink into nothingness

old men will feel rejuvenated

and start running around the park

and when they see their reflection

in the metal slide they’ll be surprised

to see themselves as children

a bit later they’ll be embryos

and will then become single cells

and then they won’t even be that

everything that happened

will unhappen on this earth

couples will go back to their

puppy-love days before arguments

mountains will shrink into hills

birds will develop egg shells

around themselves

the only thing that won’t change

is the clouds

they will grow and shrink

storms will form and dissipate

as always

this was all their mistake

anyway