[ more common ]

some poems from my most recent self published thing

[shuteye in the land of the sacred commoner (& other poems)]

~

[omissive]

the child, the loneliest

reconciliation…

–

it is not quite suicide, not quite

career

–

sorrow’s racket,

as in

a deer
in the path
of an oncoming
deer

–

son I carry

no one’s
blood

~

[usage]

firstborn
I came
to soften
my brother.

before my mother knew how to sleep,
I slept. father

was a thing
forgotten
by something
real.

lighten up, dream, we’re light
on crow.

the animal
your favorite
you won’t
become.

~

[meditations on depth]

the mouth
of the thing
that eats
in fog
a doll’s
head

–

the holy spirit
high
on the bricklayer’s
toothache

–

a cat person
at death’s
door

–

poverty

a belonging
moved
by many
mirrors

~

[untitled]

/ had this hairbrush could halt hearing loss in hallucinations. this theory that eve was adam’s mother and that god was born in eden for refusing to study virgins. she had her facts straight and a dog would tell my son otherwise. a way of coaxing both murder and suicide to breastfeed death. this bird that would go

like a showerhead
south. a goldfish, a brainless calf…

~

[keep]

the laziness animals have, that kind of panicked longing…

and brevity, the faith
of insects

–

my shadow, of course, afraid of its borrowed blood

–

that barn
in the middle of nowhere’s haunted eyesight

–

the invisible
after-hours
birth, and the woman

who keeps the baby
despite
its perfection

–

this quiet in the redneck’s
library
of forgiveness, this thunder…

–

the agony of the boomerang’s maker

~

NOTE:

15% off and free mail shipping on all print books at Lulu with coupon code of COOKBOOK15

available now, self published companion piece to {infant*cinema}:

SHUTEYE

IN THE LAND
OF THE SACRED
COMMONER

& other poems

110 pages, 7.00
here:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/barton-smock/shuteye-in-the-land-of-the-sacred-commoner/paperback/product-22744790.html

(book preview on site is book entire)

~

infant*cinema, Dink Press chapbook, here:
http://www.dinkpress.com/store/infant-cinema-by-barton-smock