"Oh, the things we invent when we are scared and want to be rescued"
— Richard Siken
"Here is the repeated image of the lover destroyed.
Crossed out.
Clumsy hands in a dark room. Crossed out.
There is something underneath the floorboards.
Crossed out.
And here is the tabernacle
reconstructed.
Here is the part where everyone was happy all the time
and we were all forgiven,
even though we didn’t deserve it."
Crossed out.
Clumsy hands in a dark room. Crossed out.
There is something underneath the floorboards.
Crossed out.
And here is the tabernacle
reconstructed.
Here is the part where everyone was happy all the time
and we were all forgiven,
even though we didn’t deserve it."
— From Litany in Which Certain Things are Crossed Out - Read this poem
YYYYEEEESSSSSS
"They thought we were crazy."
— Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums
"… in fact Japhy was considered an eccentric around the campus, which is the usual thing for campuses and college people to think whenever a real man appears on the scene — colleges being nothing but grooming schools for the middle-class non-identity which usually finds its perfect expression on the outskirts of campus in rows of well-to-do houses with lawns and television sets in each living room with everybody looking at the same thing and thinking the same thing at the same time while the Japhies of the world go prowling in the wilderness to hear the voice crying in the wilderness, to find the ecstasy of the stars, to find the dark mysterious secret of the origin of faceless wonderless crapulous civilization."
— Jack Kerouac. The Dharma Bums
The Straightforward Mermaid
The straightforward mermaid starts every sentence with “Look…” This comes from being raised in a sea full of hooks. She wants to get points 1, 2, and 3 across, doesn’t want to disappear like a river into the ocean. When she’s feeling despairing, she goes to eddies at the mouth of the river and tries to comb the water apart with her fingers. The straightforward mermaid has already said to five sailors, “Look, I don’t think this is going to work,” before sinking like a sullen stone. She’s supposed to teach Rock Impersonation to the younger mermaids, but every beach field trip devolves into them trying to find shells to match their tail scales. They really love braiding. “Look,” says the straightforward mermaid. “Your high ponytails make you look like fountains, not rocks.” Sometimes she feels like a third gender — preferring primary colors to pastels, the radio to singing. At least she’s all mermaid: never gets tired of swimming, hates the thought of socks.” — Matthea Harvey
Three terrific young men, three terrific poets. Check these fellas out if you’re into either of those things.
OUR CHAPBOOKS!!!!
The First Astronomers - by Dylan Garity
The Slumber Pity Party - by Hieu Minh Nguyen
High Lonesome - by Neil Hilborn
(via neilhilborn)
