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sublunary composition

to reach a state of slumber, at first we

must fake it. after soup, supine lying

our eyes to shut—fasting realities

like understudies on a stage, become

dead. wait into the wash of it and hope

for the coming (or else come to make it

easier).                 I dwell on my flamingo

pillow case, two in the morning, and soon

noon will come—             but what time is     will listens

                                                             composition    to enact floral            blouse

               or          swim     sublunary     a                    prose tortoise

                                                           through               a metonymical                petticoat

              this    simply extends            trimmings or                 thus   pun

                                                                                                        the          letter   4 :          a flamingo resting

human humidity

i.

no wind

alone the weather in itself.

who is gonna give you what

you lack? privacy

is vigil, vigil

is feast,

the gentleness of this—

                                                            a little pain.

ii.

when all my companions left town for the summer

I was born, had to place myself.

in water, warm I tinkered:

               when does social life begin, aging, does it return?

so many distractions here

                               not here—pointing out.

iii.

in hot mist tonight I witness

september in

its confusion with louisiana,

 

                                            hear one siren

                                                         at a distance, bending:

                             someone hence.

iv.

in one heave big

the brain, the fact vigil

               also means awake.

                                             (outside a banana

                              tree trembles)

inside several

                               in fact.

v.

no hurricanes this summer yet but heat

above the sea builds in

                                the gulf is big. evacuation is

                                a team attempt.

                                                                                         

                        

Cameron Lovejoy is the founding editor at Tilted House, a small press in New Orleans, Louisiana. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Columbia Review, DIAGRAM, Bayou Magazine, and more.

ISSN 2632-4423

 

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