i’ve stubbed my tone again against the edge of some other universe under the weekly farmers market near the free whiskey samples retired dentist who summers in santa monica who explains volatilization charcoal filters in his coronavirus mask the perfect gift for clark
i’ve taken off again around pluto in the byzantine eyes of man nothing to do wife away
i’ve glanced out again from my crashing self sea
i’ve named myself again spoiled oil spilled spinning top approaches edge gravity angel’s share bitter ship gasping heir to a ruined king- dom of collapsed arteries rough concrete sidewalk gone feral over rough dog- wood root
So much light, dear oblivion, night after night; I offered up my body. You refused. I drank. Begged, really. Said my dreams, you don’t belong here. Some countable mornings ahead, crouched in the internet’s dark corners, hands reaching into prosaic brightness, not to gather, but offer: News spreads of a virgin conception. And so much light.
Prayer peels soul from body. Robin-eyed memory of never known. The scent of winter jasmine, he writes. I ascent, with neither knowledge nor trace experience. Mouth crawls with the acid taste of spider webs. Begging, really. Dear Oblivion, I continue asking the drain — conduit from, passive voice, channel away — to do the hard work. Three-fourteen a.m., a mournful eight-legged poet struggles to drag a stone amphora the size of a casket across the backyard — no vacancies.
All photos copyright Joe Gerace, 2020 (please email for usage permission)
Hundreds gathered on a sweltering June afternoon in Hackensack, NJ, to call for an end to police brutality against people of color in the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others.
Organizers provided a platform for members of the crowd to step up to the microphone and share their thoughts. Many of those who spoke stressed the need for swift and definitive change to race relations in America, and the importance of community, solidarity, and voting — in local, state, and federal elections.
The peaceful rally convened from noon to 1 p.m. on Ward and State streets in Downtown Hackensack before protesters marched south toward the Bergen County Courthouse.
Uniformed Hackensack police officers blocked traffic to allow protesters to rally and march freely.
The death of Floyd sparked rallies and protests across the country and a handful of protests occurred in New Jersey over the past several days.
my panting heart my heavy void capturing leaf smoke curls the room while i prepare crystal lapped boys to value a buck everyone i know is dead i’m dead too but that never bothered me none
handsome sergio knows the hoary hour every day antoni sneaks off before lunch to fuck his girlfriend violet he presumes i can’t smell the rose in his long black hair
sergio’s allowance twirled on montelliana panerai brioni then alone in darkness arranges black chrysanthemums
nothing moves in the universe a few cars and trucks on main street something lights through the grass a hare i thought or a robin but i am high and the grass is tall and a car alarm shouts over the green paint of the lawn where the neighbors play he drives a nice new chevrolet because he does nothing but work two small women in black cardigans peaceful blue masks matching wet brown buns and fists full of snow white target shopping bags walk past walk past clark is here again with the chimney he ran home to get so he can grill meat.
“The contemplation of things as they are, without substitution or imposture, without error or confusion, is in itself a nobler thing than a whole harvest of invention.” Francis Bacon
