Shuvalkin.  Shuvalkin.  Shuvalkin

 

 

 

the strawberries have fainted

‘tis the season over the black tarp. 

Two rows of necks snapped under the punctured arc. 

 

The synonyms have dried

Dropped from the calendar

The mirror rejects you.  Your pulse

 

A stopwatch of whole histories

Needs resetting.  The hand hurts,

Your hat hurts, it hurts your hair, your mailbox

 

& its online digital storage count-up

Why that feels so good. 

It is related that Potemkin suffered

 

States of depression

More or less regularly.

Google it

 

It still all comes down

To a girl & a gun.  Some slit

Flint of hope cores the cave walls

 

of Neanderthals.  A bull swallows the ether

& the man rides the sky in his nethers to oblivion

which means forgetting.  Pennyloafers

 

When I was pure & grinning

Still life inside the Polaroid.

Álvaro te he dicho que no.

 

Cariño, Cariñoso, Álvaro,

Te he dicho que no.

Enormous thanks for these moments

 

Inscribed in Technicolor firmament

Scribbled in fine-tipped permanent.

Lest rain.

 

 

[Untitled]

the common librarian fantasy

whose name i don’t know

has a baby at home & huge, well,

 

i hear Freud laugh & snort

another line of coke.

girl ahead at the counter puts out

 

pout & wins

a tome. 

green eyes inset marble

 

says the sculptor.

tights & a flannel

collar imprisons

 

that of the lure,

most effective Siren

shuts up. 

 

Odysseus plugs his ears with wax

to burn better. 

 

i hear hummus

from crushed garbanzo & sesame

seed will save me.   save me

 

this last lick of tahini on the knife.

put some umph behind it.

i the narrow knife. 

 

you the sparrowy woman

from Tahiti.  dig it

the way you enter your cigarette.

 

yes, i want

this book on the

Umelkhashab –

 

brilliant skin;

bittersweet

hard white flesh

 

– date palm’s fruit.