tchotchkes and such

Don’t

The hibiscus were impartial but patricide was the topic of conversation, not the usual coacktail party banter. A dragonfly drained a pistil daiquiri, while a croo of white ibis pecked at some takeaway boxes, and Lagartija Ron watched silently in blitzkrieg formation from the tree line.

I was on a two week jag to the past—in the shape of Florida—in the key of Spanglish. My ancestral forelocks were trapped in a cowlick, all mortise and tenon-like, as if we were on an all-inclusive at a Bahamas resort, specifically Eleuthera—but full of temperate zone tchotchkes and such.

It was an altogether vertiginous and humid afternoon. The wet bulb temperature was nearly 95° F—deadly, you see—so the impartial hibiscus were decidedly on a manatee fissure, fig banyan, sorta tip—and I was, like, sure! Aha! I second that!

But I really had no conception of where I was or what I was going on about. See, that’s the thing about Florida. . .

Don’t.

It didn’t work out for Ponce de Leon. It definitely went sour for Hernando de Soto. And now… well… just…

Don’t.

What I’m Reading:

“The hardest part
is the songbirds
and their fugue state,
fug state, fuck it.”

— Peter Gizzi / “Song”

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who says it’s

who?

who?
who’s says it’s hot?
who?

What I’m Reading:

“The world is neon
in the gloaming quiet.”

— Peter Gizzi / “Song”

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i’ll help you

hold on

i’ll help you—hold on—paradise is flailing—it’s too hot or too cold—too parched or waterlogged—the ice age is coming—the sun’s zooming in—the ice caps are melting—we’ve lost the sweet spot—418.90 ppm—1.2° C—meltdown expected—the wheat is growing thin—crises abound—keep hope alive—keep treading water—stay in the shade—steer clear of the plague—this too shall pass—or we’ll die striving—and after all this, won’t you give me a smile? (over—out)

What I’m Reading:

“. . . What good
is accuracy amidst the perpetual
scattering that unspools the world.”

— Ada Limón / “It’s the Season I Often Mistake”

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by cooking meat

The Best Stuff I Read This Week

“She always knew that she was too small and stupid to lead a revolution, but she had hoped she could at least imagine one. She takes a deep breath, attacked by an awareness of how impossible it is to learn and accomplish all that she needs to learn and accomplish before she dies.”

— Tess Gunty / The Rabbit Hutch


“we watch the red birds in the morning
we hope for the quiet
daytime together
the year turns into air”

— W.S. Merwin / “The Solstice”


“‘We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.’ We had all simultaneously realised that our home was not limitless — there was an edge to our existence.”

— David Attenborough / A Life On Our Planet


“I miss who I was. I miss who we all were,
before we were this: half-alive to the brightening sky,
half-dead already. I place my hand on the unscarred
bark that is cool and unsullied, and because I cannot
apologize to the tree, to my own self I say, I am sorry.
I am sorry I have been so reckless with your life.”

— Ada Limón / “Salvage”


“The science is clear: animal-based foods account for 57% of agricultural greenhouse gases versus 29% for food from plants. By cooking meat, people are cooking themselves.”

— The Guardian Editorial


“That is the trouble with writing a book about climate breakdown … By the time it is published it is already out of date. That is how fast things are moving.”

— Bill McGuire / The Guardian


“‘I live here!’ Ida yells. ‘And I think a person who’s lived here for over thirty years has a right to a peaceful home! A right to a balcony without any corpses on it!’”

— Tess Gunty / The Rabbit Hutch

What I’m Listening To:

“Do you want to make tea at the BBC?
Do you want to be, do you really want to be a cop?”

— The Clash / “Career Opportunities”

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the room full

What I’m Reading:

“My kind of Sunday, your knees
buffalo and kicking up plains.”

— Arisa White / “Curious and Counting”

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browns & withers

Driving the Heat Dome

Traveling sorts her memories.
Driving to Miami sharpens
her father’s voice—like acid
catalyzing in her ears boring
a ragged chute to her amygdala—
simultaneously black-holing her backward
and shooting her into an uncertain future
full of Get to Know Jesus and Get Your Guns
& Ammo
Here billboards. She fights.
She flees from all her ghosts. She barrels
south—under the heat dome.

Tobacco leaves yellow—corn browns & withers—in her wake.

What I’m Reading:

“Nothing besides remain. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The line and level sands stretch far away.”

— Percy Bysshe Shelley / “Ozymandias”

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she feels better

Fear (haiku)

The Fear Contagion:
Taking Control. Stockpiling.
She feels better now.

What I’m Reading:

“. . . Violence is done and history
records it. Gold ruins us. Men ruin us.”

— Ada Limón / “How We See Each Other”

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the swish sultanas

Penumbra Heart

You brought a felon backbone to the party. You panned the bouffant directory to the left
speakers and no longer backclothed the swish sultanas. You are indecent with your handcart ducklings, dripping wet florins, and praise-wet stampedes—your sister-in-law dirging past her dowry. You shave the filigree off handgun duds and clutter my late summer lunar eclipse with pinhole boxes and 3-D glasses. You fill me with inertia at 10:32 as the moonshine wanes and the penumbra fills my heart.

What I’m Reading:

“We’ve become accustomed to an impoverished planet.”

— David Attenborough / A Life on Our Planet

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of a post

going to florida

i didnt stop thinking
i just stopped writing for the day
before my mind caught wind
of my lack of a post

so i went to florida—
or i planned on going
to florida—

and all i got were these . . .
lousy videos

What I’m Reading:

“Just yesterday, a park ranger from Michigan admitted that he sometimes leaves cutlets of raw salmon near campsites, hoping to see a bear.”

— Tess Gunty / The Rabbit Hutch

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the wah wah

pure happenstance tanka

pound hippo tamer
bizarre verbal tapestry
fuzzbox high stepper
she stomps the wah wah pedal
at the event horizon

What I’m Reading:

“I smell something soupish, sour and dank and it’s
filled with weeds like rough
cat tongues…”

— Diane Seuss / “backyard song”

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