· the cultural society ·

Whatever comes up, gets drawn in. See it here, shaped and trimmed to manicure. That two of three meanings come down to force, energy, force to beat us about the shoulders in the small of the back, tack us like a crow to the barn-door. Force and erosion, resistance. Moral. That jaunty Herakles would cauterize […]

What do you mean, I asked the poem, its gears for a moment at rest, steam leaking from its boiler. Who are you to ask, it replied, touching my cheek with a human hand. Where do you come from, I asked the poem, marvelling at the shining grooves behind it, which seemed to vanish into […]

the world shudders like an escalator jolts up a sudden start men in shirts duck and bob like pigeons on a ledge fishtailed and sly guzzling what’s given granite platforms trap a chlorinated wash of light their blood ran out here these rails these lines this trough through voltage claimed the earth we owe everything […]

1. origin no longer exists as a geographic space 2. you cannot keep it in a jar 3. apartment buildings pull into stations open their doors                   the populace         out and         in                   the platform clamps                   shut and hurls 4. bricks rattle in their brittle mortars and restack themselves 5. you cannot keep it to yourself 6. migrant society […]

The blood thins between us drips loose a surname— not to be alone in failure—we share one shiver between us—a form of memory— even the baby sister wants a fair shake in the cold.

What little’s left, we learned to clean with our guns and our mouths. We hit the target of our own design. But when I ask what’s next, nobody steps up, head cocked for a space of breath.

In the main body of address Nostalgia divides the head again and again Beginning, middle, end hidden between fragments Against the future’s need a hand closes

                  for Robert Creeley     Living part trap part rap-t ure How to spring it How to give oneself up to it

If you accept fate’s feats you will be guided Otherwise, pulseless disguises compete We either give or withhold heartbeats