The American Poetry Review

TWO POEMS

The Recluse

The surrogate nothing incorporates inside this is a letter an outsideness symbologyimpish dark snarled at say years the weight look now the before and afterclipped onto the table night and a sense for clouds cankeep thinking the sickness but it evades what part is visible or I am thinking ofprone to no answer say never sussed it out thinking damage waiting for itthe TV full of bloat bloated look at that man night my shirts in the closetthe feeling open up imagine being pulled into the sky the lonelinesswriggle itch rub ice letting the legs all the way out talk to me the dwellingcrush it it is sweet and fat the I am is clipped it’s a way of speaking every secondnot too fast just enough like the inside of the body being moved imagine the skyimagine talk to me tell me about its daylight what it’s like the able the ableness.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The American Poetry Review

The American Poetry Review34 min read
END OF MESSAGE On Norman Dubie
1. “Are you by your machine?” he says. “Yeah, I’m here.” I turn the phone on speaker, set it on my desk, open a Word doc. By “machine”—I know by now—he just means computer. I don’t think I ever hear him say that word: Computer. I know he did, once, w
The American Poetry Review2 min read
Two Poems
A hologram of a horse galloping makes me anxious.It can’t stop going nowhere.How can I walk past it? We are late,led through the sexesto a quiet courtyard where I see a babycarriage, not the baby.Nobody cries for me at Horses.We are seated between tw
The American Poetry Review3 min read
from SCENES FROM LATIN POETRY
Qui tacet consentire videtur. Silence gives consent.Veritas odium parit. Truth creates hatred. You know how you can know some thingsbut forget you know until it’s time to remember.Mom met her third husband Billy whenshe was a teacher helping convicts

Related