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June 23, 2015 / barton smock

claims

I enter with my small life to profile the impressions you did of my brother. these kids, they cough in photos. as for her, her father’s voice could up and speak at a moment’s notice. I move the gun daily. if my head wasn’t glued on, I’d have lost my ears to the hive mind of ghost forgiveness. my brother liked to play leap frog. fuck art. we live too long.

June 22, 2015 / barton smock

numbers game

with a kid for each hiding spot, father thanks god while mother takes a head count. I am back from the fair with a rendering of how I will look to my rapist. my brother is already in position and has contorted himself in a manner he thinks will convince me he can shrink his ears. my sister is nowhere a bumblebee can’t find. our puppy picks a new favorite because it bruises easily. numbers game or no numbers game, loneliness is coming.

June 18, 2015 / barton smock

childlike answer

I am made mostly of trying to find my way back to bread

June 18, 2015 / barton smock

onlookers

I blow into the infant’s mouth as if I could prepare an echo for what’s about to happen. in my dream I am turning on a flashlight that thinks it can scream. in yours, reincarnation is all the brevity our lord can stomach.

June 18, 2015 / barton smock

my mom is two people in one river

violence
is the only body
that takes a lifetime
to bruise.

I know this guy
so to speak
calls his cock
god’s shortcut.

I can’t reach my hands.

June 17, 2015 / barton smock

first appeared

father kicks me under the table
for biting
early.

a ghost hears thunder.

June 17, 2015 / barton smock

themes for counterpart

my dog dies
and I take
its place.

because he could be anyone
I use my dad
to get laid.

christ had two sons
his daughter
ate.

June 16, 2015 / barton smock

three denials

the narrative that haunts my flood story never has two words for the sticks I rub together.

the mother treats her mouth like a net she’s failed to eat through.

no one is talking to the pregnant angel who can’t piss.

June 15, 2015 / barton smock

uppers

god gets fucked-up about which hair to harm on your head. in some, this goes on for years. I have a lucky razor, a father who’s blind in one hand, and a suicidal thought that scares me to death in front of cops. my last meal came to me on a toothbrush.

June 15, 2015 / barton smock

caste

brother builds a time machine from trigger warning porn. brother puts his little earthquake to bed. brother swears on god’s jawbone he’ll pinch a baby from a pouch of tobacco. move for move, I match our mother’s stillness. my eating acts alone. a symbol for leaving a mark.