Todd Colby

 

Limits

If ecstasy is a reminder of the limits of the body
then pain must be a reminder to get out of the house
and do a little ass dancing on the F Train.
Bitter wind in your mouth: a map of Brooklyn
or the fall of rusty dander from a robot,
of course I love you, there’s just
not enough of me to mend the hem of your
foul-tempered robot,  where the peaches rot,
the tongue makes big mistakes
and all hell brays "I am robot."

Help Me

If you see my robot please tell him
come home to me the meal
was divine. The turnips were brazed
to perfection and the tuna had not one
dot of mercury.  When you see my robot
tell him that I really liked what he
talked about (porno) and what he whispered
to me when the going got tough (fuck shit up).

Thank You

Weehawken?

That's where they dispose of old robots, right? I've been through there. Nice people. Small people, but nice, very nice. I delivered a talk about robots there once to a group of Weehawkenites who had gathered in an average room where they gather.  I remember the tiny folding chairs, the fruit punch, the cookies out of huge Costco bags, and the smell of coffee and meat. Good people (though small), and a good town (though it smells like old robots).

Robot: A Fever

Strutting in pain
The robot is partial
to loss, each one
a delicate spaz, clinically
depressed by arcs
of wet weather
my god your mouth
is so extreme as
it stretches over a slice
of inky cake
they found his robot
in a bag
twisted sister
all the humdrum
and manic thistles
all I have
all for you

My 3:30 Robot

Everyone is talking about the new robot
because that's all they've got to talk about:
new robots. The air in here is metallic and I'm bending
in half, "like a balloon," she says, while
stroking her robot with a bag of popcorn, so florid,
what's on your robot or what can we do
for your robot now that you’re retired?
A lot of robots churn butter instead of dancing
which is tacky as the metal
elbows of robots hidden under Gucci
sleeves. BTW: I came for you on the back
of a sickly robot. I lost myself by leaving traces
of what I left behind where I chose to stay.
A shitty little robot makes a lot of trouble
for others and takes the nut.
I’m leaving on a robot and I know when I’ll
be back again. I told you so: I heart robots.

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