poem
the rot of the world
was knotted like a double helix
, four-chambered , double-barreled ,
and somebody was loving me , ,
my eyes were smiling
cuz love was coming true .. . !
a surge of desperation
I am a total person today with a single life , flying
so naked over conclusions . my life ,
it’s just one and I’m clamped to it , with sweat ,
drinking clarified milk and forthave red .
but I don’t really drink . or know anything . although
I know there are crazy people
and people too crazy to live , lightning struck ,
basically disastrous , but all wounds
are renounceable . and I know I speak hard ,
mostly in quotations cuz why , too much
pain in my voice ? in “ my voice . so
look , there I was , being followed
by a man all the way home
shirtless , with a drill , and he’s yelling
about acetone acetone acetone , but his life
seems almost over
poetry in the 21st century
3.8 inches of rain a second
are falling on new york city , home
of the ticker tape parade and OMNY
among other technocratic deviancies
expressed as public spectacles , the ability
to break the air into molecules
and feel USD flow from heart to hand
etc etc ,, I use the balcony voice too long
like mussolini . chop . party city
closed
cuz the party is over . time for the long
21st century , no latex , whippets , helium ,
subwoofers , or water . the fire escape rails are rusty
and cut the eyes of the eponymous beauty
beholder , a loaf of cotton and linen .
how close can I get to heaven
with this wizened plastic body , the body
of banzai christ . bonsai ? just killing
from here to the world so we send a love letter
to the world or J I used to date , hope she’s well
with her whipped cream chargers ..
the task , as I see it ,
from the blood and rubble ,
is to make something good up
then pack it up and ship it off . it’s still possible
to do even if it looks like work . even if
it seems indecent . it’s way worse than that . still ,
you can hear it now , making an offer , saying
good bye
human wave good bye modern war good bye
reason , design , self-expression – close to me you were like
my brother sister mother father
close to me you were like my dream of water
that rose up and cleared economy away
prayer
I was sat drinking coffee thinking please
don’t let me be radically individual
and all the acid milk supply chain
in the searing vision of life underwater
sea lice shark teeth stingray sting
or infatuated with nothing , with utter restraint
dripping restraint
Benjamin Krusling is a writer and an artist. He is the author of the collection Glaring, and chapbooks, most recently sideplitters. Fear of God Essentials is forthcoming from Nightboat in 2027.