poetry
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The Lady of the House Puts the Alarm Clock in a Drawer
‘Lightly, Very Lightly’ by Mary Ruefle It was raining. I could hear the raintaking the pins out of her mouth.Soft rain became hard rainso that hard things became soft things.The wet leaves under the trees became heavy as diapers,the book left openon the grasscould finally sink in her bathwithout a word,the way, after a hard…
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The Great American Rebrand
taos taupe on the meaningless wall an advert for the effortless lightning that fills one’s body 1960s if i had to guess masked up against the russian nike strife force members of which giddily violate the agreed upon terms of the hue and colorway sapphire mayan air force marine corpsdozens of dead children some touristsnote…
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Stuck Tight Old Boy Stuck Tight
‘Safety Lock’ by Louis Aragon My wordHand caught in the doorStuck tight old boy stuck tightIn other wordsOrThe password pleaseMany thanksNow I hold the keyThe bolt begins to twist like a tongueTherefore Trans. Michael Benedikt Source: Aragon, Louis. “Safety Lock.” The Poetry of Surrealism, edited by Michael Benedikt. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1974, p. 151.…
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Men in Hats Rise from the Ground
‘Five O’Clock’ by James Schuyler Men disport themselves.They help each other:“Reach in my chest and massage my heart.I am not dead.” If clouds are God’s table linen,what is rain?He gave men towels to dry themselves.He blessed their soap. The city grew like the desert, by erosionMen walk in it.God is not so much dead as…
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The Song of One Hundred Thousand Chemicals Approximating Sunshine
‘This is the Song of One Hundred Thousand’ by Ariana Reines This is the song of one hundredThousand chemicals approximating Sunshine in my hair. My lover bit My cheek this morning. I think I’ll Fall from one trance into the nextMight fall asleep any minuteIt gets tiring making yourself looklike you’re alive while you’re lookingHard…
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On One Leg (House Beautiful)
prokofiev cobham & darnielle circle one’scrown blue llama equilateral wingedwhat have we hereseen? a photo in a photo in a magazinemetaphor boils the potafter a jot spills its ink hungover an fim-92 stinger whichlike i said before is no metaphorat all al gore despondent speaking to late modal fordsdon’t forget mass production the cruelest bearda…
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200! (Dog Talk)
200! the old mutt sayshallelujah and forevermorethe rats of uskeep banging on that drumif the sky has his wayif the shy sky has his wayfrank o’hara blessed meearly in my career — he blurbedmy christening i’ll pray for yousays the well intentioned divorceereally where would we be without softscrub the bathroom would be the barnno…
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Good Blue Clay
Tanka, by Ono No Oyu The city of Nara of good blue clay glows like a blooming flower, now at its prime Source: Ono No Oyu. “Tanka.” From the Country of Eight Islands: An Anthology of Japanese Poetry, edited by Hiroaki Sato and Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1987, p. 43. Photo: Church…
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An Urge to Flex Everything
‘Solidus’ by Ron Padgett Why am I making myselfdo and be things that I don’t really want to?Because I have an idea of what I should be doing and/orI don’t have an idea of what I really want to be and/or do.And/or both. I seem to be very and/or,with an urge to flex everything until…
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The Fiction of Time Destroyed
‘Anticipation of Love’ by Jorge Luis Borges Neither the intimacy of your look, your brow fair as a feast day,nor the favor of your body, still mysterious, reserved, and childlike,nor what comes to me of your life, settling in words or silence,will be so mysterious a giftas the sight of your sleep, enfoldedin the vigil…
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