while oceans acidify

Posted on May 19, 2022 by istsfor manity
image: 350.org

planet b tanka

ain’t no planet b
we made planet a real sick
wildfires spewing
fire tornadoes miles high
while oceans acidify

What I’m Reading:

“A writer doesn’t owe a reader hope—the only obligation is honesty . . . “

— Bill McKibben / Falter

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round dandelion free

Posted on May 18, 2022 by istsfor manity

Prune Haiku

Prune my apple tree—
Possum-tailed blind, hedgehog round,
Dandelion free.

What I’m Reading:

“First day of war.
Rockets, not birds, whizzed by the window in
the morning.”

— Ludmila Khersonsky / “First Day of War”

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tied up waiting

Posted on May 17, 2022 by istsfor manity
Press play to watch tuesday thursday (1:02)

tuesday thursday

plastic shovel in hand
shots whizz by my head
it’s hard to breathe and run this fast

i strike a saintly pose
i’m a pin cushion i’m a pineapple
i’m a porcupine undone

arrows are an occupational hazard
tied up waiting for the rainy season
in a parched and rocky land

call me on tuesday
i’ll be out by thursday

What I’m reading:

“I’m the uncrowned king of the insomniacs
Who still fights his ghosts with a sword…”

— Charles Simic / “About Myself”

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was a way

Posted on May 16, 2022 by istsfor manity

minutes pass / there are two left (redux)

i.
los minutos pasan
quedan dos

and then there was a multifoliate
a multiplicity, a multivariate, a

multiplication that started
with two

but here in this space, in this
void there is only one

only one that replicates
and that must suffice

ii.
i passed the time
i made some marks

i lived it
monochromatically

with an absence of angst
it was a way
of passing through life

What I’m Reading:

“Climate change has become such a familiar term that we tend to read past it—it’s part of our mental furniture, like urban sprawl or gun violence.”

— Bill McKibben / Falter

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i eye

Posted on May 15, 2022 by istsfor manity

aye i stye eye

What I’m Reading:

“Fame is a bucket of eyes.”

— Victoria Chang / “Late Wonders”

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holy pockets full

Posted on May 14, 2022 by istsfor manity

The Visit

Darkness envelops the visit
from my dead father. He says psychic
automatism betrayed him—the paranoiac
critical debased him. We count

the shadows of ghosts untethered
from the sheets over their heads—
one forgot to cut the eyeholes out—
a blind ghost singing off-key
from a torn hymnal. We cram

communion hosts in our maws—
this batch overcooked / oversalted—
our holy pockets full then empty. We wade

ankle deep in wafers to the vestry.
It’s snowing outside. We sink through
the floor. We forget what we’ve forgotten.

What I’m Reading:

“If Justice Alito wants you to be governed by the laws of the 17th century, you should take a close look at that century. Is that when you want to live?”

— Margaret Atwood / “I Invented Gilead. The Supreme Court Is Making It Real”

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married a sturgeon

Posted on May 13, 2022 by istsfor manity

Tantara Vibrissa (flarfish #50)

Fanfare / stiff hairs
this is my answer—
dog whiskers!
& where to find beers?

I was once in Baku—
found it familiar—
sat down on Mount Bazardüzü,
& heard the plash of the Caspian Sea.

I married a sturgeon.
Now I’m knee-deep in caviar—
& navel gazing
as the world burns.

So a fanfare for nose hairs!
Pass the libations—
Gabriel’s horn is on autoplay loop
& I ain’t listening no mo’.

What I’m Reading:

“I want to staple
myself to a passing cloud
so I am blameless for the war.”

— Victoria Chang / “How It Happens”

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the hot edge

Posted on May 12, 2022 by istsfor manity
Press play above to watch sadness & fury (:52)

sadness and fury

sadness and fury
and also, remarkably, hope
but it fades
oh it fades
in the haze
at the hot edge
of 1000 ppm
20 feet of water coming
best learn to swim
best learn to row
best to prep
yr rocket
to nowheres
now

What I’m listening to:

“So this is for when you feel happy
And this is for when you feel sad
And this is for when you feel
Nothing”

— Love and Rockets / “Haunted”

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under the influence

Posted on May 6, 2022 by istsfor manity
Press play to watch my short film EXOPHONY (:51)

Exophony

Under the influence of another tongue
Under the influence of a glass in shards
Under the influence of a perpetual pandemic
Under the influence of a second booster
Under the influence of crass appeal
Under the influence of social regression
Under the influence of climate change
Under the influence of a fata morgana
Follow the blinders

The blindness

The blind

What I’m Reading:

“During the pandemic
we are a forest—trees
standing alone together.”

— Dunya Mikhail / “Tablets VI”

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while you sleep

Posted on May 5, 2022 by istsfor manity

Creases

Sodden targets
In an era of rampant mental illness.
Loose lips sink shrinks.
What have you tested for?
The results remain the flame.
You’ve received a phone call
That says you are loathed.
A surveillance expert creases
Your papers while you sleep.
You’ve been living underground
For two breathless months
And you don’t know what that means.

What I’m Reading:

“I don’t recall asking to be conceived! Neither did my parents come to think of it. Even so. Score to be settled. Children are vengeance.”

—John Barth / “Autobiography: A Self-Recorded Fiction”

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