Monday, January 22, 2018

Robert Beveridge - Seven Poems

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1. Abject

world sits abject drinks its horrortea sits in fear asteroids circle jail guards rattle bars abject imprisoned world sits under blackwinter sun dim world dark abject frustrated sees not what light allows love gone hope gone abject world sits in corner drinks sits abject imprisoned under sun sits cold the world abject frustrated corner sees not what abject light shows





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2. The Idiot

Nothing
                        nothing
            nothing
no
            thing
significant

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3. In Underreality Milk Is Always Blue

Tilt your eyes
a few degrees from your head

watch the colors shift

learn the pain
of razors
withpostcoital
cigarettes
through their handles' holes
in the bloody aftermath

gerbil's teeth clench tight
around a shaft
of brown celery

stoned
to death
it falls
in a haze
of brown fur
andgrey brain

it is an honest death
gerbil-Jehovah called Him home

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4. Poems Found in Conversation

What seven days hath wrought
let no man put asunder

            (deep in the corner
                        of the eye,
            a woodcut by Joshua Stearles)

amazing work, that.

What seven days hath wrought
            (in the hospital gift shop
            two stuffed penguins)
Seventeen days is more like it.

We cannot but be tempted
by such things. Nine dollars
for a steak, some mandarin
gelatin, intensive care.
            (He tried to kill himself
            with the earpiece
            of his eyeglasses, of all things—
            can you imagine?)
The short-order cook
            didn't burn it, for once.

Let's go outside and have
a smoke, flip the bird
to all this sterilization.

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5. Scrutiny Melts

eyes run with tears
eyes run with flesh
mind raptured back
to a time of eyes
all eyes turned away
eyes twitch
melt
stare
rapture over
eyesrun with flesh
away

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6. Stones (Human Disease)

mocking words spite you bear all that is hate latch on leech on leach out spirit your words burn signs burn hate burn diamonds of my eyes sun lens point on hand burn feels good all that is hate beg your words mock words spite beg you leech on this rack beg mock words taunt you leech I hope you burn

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7. What Happened After the Reading

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