two poems
David W. Pritchard
Clearing My Throat
It is appealing to think of watching Steve's poem
reading it underneath in the Youtube field
for description listening to him reading something
else (I was falling asleep) is that really what he does
is he really reading? he calls it that, "perform a reading"
his phrase when we were corresponding regularly
who can really say
Each line drifts closer to an itinerary.
If you said "the theme of this poem is"
would I be impressed? you could switch
around the pronouns and just say
Every day on Instagram I vote
for which shapes of pasta I prefer
instead of reading whatever book
I have open in front of me
who among us can say they're succeeding
in their reading more than me?
who can really say
I make a PDF of Ernesto Cardenal's
Epigramas for Zach after breakfast
and during coffee, an hour later
than when I---no Ernesto Cardenal
myself---allowed myself to be goaded
into an argument by a libertarian
on Facebook I don't know
the stakes were low, the payoff high
he ended up looking at pictures of me
(this also on Facebook) to help him
figure out how best to insult me
he chose my appearance!
which to me registers as a kind of desire
but who can say?
Five different kinds of writing at once
talking makes me angry so I talk,
makes others anxious when I say
Writing a movie in the other room
(piano + horns, no melody) defense
of writing written while talking
talked this writing "talking leaves reading"
still typing (violin and woodwind
still no melody) when I say
The wind is being redirected by the buildings
the buildings are being restructured by the wind
I'm thinking sideways: Shelley
refuses to walk directly into the wind
which is every direction today
Tourist Trap
The subtitles for the film Tourist Trap (1979)
mark each silence with
>> [BLANK_AUDIO]
then the government decided
to build that new highway
he looks like Rutger Hauer
from The Hitcher (1986) with a hat like
John Turturro in The Secret Window
(2004) >>[BLANK_AUDIO]
and we're supposed to believe he's
a law student? with arms like that?
there's a third man
as in Carol Reed's The Third Man (1949)
only no one will be Orson Welles
>>[BLANK_AUDIO]
yesterday was the first day of spring
today it snowed, the phone doesn't work
but neither do I! everything
sharpens as I think about it more
a kind of
>>[BLANK_AUDIO]
(but the subtitles don't indicate the fauna
of the rural US south at night
the swelling of the score to indicate
danger/horror)
books keep
piling up on the windowsills
I pile books on the windowsills
which is only an intention to
>>[BLANK_AUDIO]
[INAUDIBLE]
>>[SOUND]
he should let me go to the city