Every poster, DVD cover, and Wikipedia page shows that epic moment in Shawshank Redemption when Andy is kneeling in the water and the rain looking up at the sky and his moment of complete freedom after 19 years The jail is in the distance and people want to feel like that. But I want to …
Category Archive: Poetry
Mar 17
no longer a pink house
where runaways of all ages congregate under a rented roof, younger ones half fill green notebooks with used words flutter about needles and weed, color their spiky hair like would-be feral parrots, flock about low keyed, sleep passed out on a wooden floor, breathe through broken locks. no longer a pink house where older ones …
Mar 17
The sensitive poet
the sensitive poet takes narcotics the sensitive poet hides behind abstraction the sensitive poet becomes more literary when he drinks the sensitive poet sells himself the sensitive poet is offended when you don’t recognize his genius the sensitive poet dreams of immortalizing himself through his verse the sensitive poet is mindful of his purse the …
Mar 17
A poem for D.H.
every weeknight during the summer of 97 at about a quarter after midnight me and D.H. would catch the 17 we were both covered in soot and factory dirt but me worse than him (he had this way of keeping himself clean) and it took longer to get home on friday nights but at least …
Mar 17
White Power
I used to fight nazis With the straight edged kids Until I got tired of the violence Decided I’d start a zine and write about nazis The nazis got madder They sent me hate mail Addressed to: Michael Grover (Head of the communist party) I kind of liked that one I published the letters Word …
Mar 17
The Tale Of The Jewish American Princess
She used to give me blowjobs Speeding down I-95 Running my fingers through her hair Lake Worth to Deerfield She would swallow every drop Then kiss me with a lot of tongue I was doing my best to keep the car on the road What was worse was the long drive home alone Thinkin’ too …
Mar 17
Like a Library in the Suburbs
She said, You’re like a library in the suburbs You’re a fortress of solitude in some Arctic hideout You’ll never crack There’s nothing underneath Nothing trapped below your layer of ice And a neck craned And some eyes locked And someone knew someone was right And everyone looked away Silence is a lingua franca but …
Mar 17
Capitalized Words Extracted From an Unapologetic Ten-Page Letter
A COUPLE WORDS: HELP YOU I CARE ONE AND ONLY INTENTION NO IDEA YOU WERE STILL STUCK ON THIS REPEATED FRUSTRATED TERRIBLE DO SOMETHING A LOT A LOT A LOT I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE . . . WHO FELT THIS WAY YEARS ELITE LOST TERRIBLE COMPLICATIONS FROM MY SURGERY IN NOVEMBER KILLING ME AND …
Mar 17
I’m From Electric Peak, MT
sometimes you’ll forget who you are you’ll go buy black rites candles carving pentagrams on the linoleum floor with a pulsing knife you found in the streets. As you put on Costa Rican coffee, and fill the sink with soap suds and hot water the virgins you need will seem so far away. You’ll start …
Mar 17
Note to My Younger Self on the Beauty of Birds
One day you will meet a woman who will put her hands on your face as if cradling a tea cup to scry the leaves. Her fingers will fit the damage and petty brutalities you wear like a roadmap over the contours of your skin. It will slow the ceaseless rattle of your bones and …