Cynthia Nelson

 

First Trajectory of Photographing:  Can I Keep it Steady

Cleaning cages of these yellows, I browned out
Walking in Maryjanes to Smith and 9th
Over Gowanus Canal, everyone stopped to look
At a nice day over the fence on tippy toes

Contagious to spy on the freeway
Punk rock beats, everyday a biscuit
Sucked in and spit out, waiting for arrivals
The queers of summer ingest me, mats in their hair

Thank you, Advertising, for saying that I've landed
I was wondering when the grounding would come
I've been really flaky lately, pretty dark
Like a character that has no reason to be

Enter the contender, a handsome fellow
Marked by obsequious, damaged by philosophies
Such as Wind-Pills and The Gypsyscrape
Dada slip, a dip in pool proverbial

Emergent the city it is dirt and le grippe
Everything's swiped now, anthologized and glum
I approach through study an onerous stigmatizing
I liked him once he showed me I was hungry

Swim along with The Golden Boy
Keeping us in water
But the moment The Mario Brothers enter the castle
I have to run out

 

Hot Cross Rainbow

In a clearing storm I chew nuts rationally
I do not ration the nuts
I send them away in their very raw state
Not sure if they are ready for a commentary

Washing broccoli while coughing
Waking to a blanket

You'd pay $6 for a turkey sandwich
Why not a $6 turkey?
Fed Ex Ground is parked in the snow
Trucks spit salt pellets

And then cashews
And then smaller cashews

In concrete walls I memorize rhythms
Worship morning from a place of no light
Wave to the book of many hands
Something on which to fly American flags

 

I Sort Of Do It By Touch

I need to go home and write this
For two weeks don't go out to dinner

As for teaching, I do know things
As for coming up for air, I do know breath

I am a human secret and I will succeed
I am a serious dropout, devastated by genius

 

Wild Grape in the Ex-House

Ex-post-facto her pink seeds
Intensify with wine and other remedies

Mom says if I miss him I should tell him
But I want to keep my hand slightly crooked

Tomatoes out of season are not a good vegetable
And a high shirt does not this hickey cover

I gave away moth moon and I am the elder
Pumpkin lighter where I paste the phrase forever

 

Kidney Infection (Symptoms)                        

Someone poured plastic
Inside my head

Someone pressing down hard
On my heart with their thumb

I look up to the ceiling
[Sailors] with numb hands

No overarching definition
I am weak

Tingling not sick
So I can't jump ship

Still playing the drums
Incessant bear sounds

Pollen and sneezing
The no-eye-makeup of May

Hear toenails on linoleum
When there isn't any dog

Boys drunk and convincing
There's no Emergency Room in Detroit

Almost fainting, using the handrail
Hot eyelids

 

Dear Dream America (A Postcard)

Mel Gibson on TV
His face is cut up bad
On the other TV
Red Wings on ice
Dartboards

On tour, need to go back
Also fear and don't want
Also love
And that was the last drink I had

Succession of ailments:
Baby U.T.I.
Migraine
Stomach virus equaling
Psychedelic puking in Detroit

Now a robot
A lady in a corset
The robot can hold a beer
But I cannot

I am not normal
I walked through Amish fields
Calling card in watery ditch
I ride laughing, I ride sad

I drive loving music through Midwestern sameness
The robot drops his beer, there's broken glass
I take a sleeping pill, do I think of you, I do
What do you think of what we will, butterfly inside

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