TWO POEMS by ANDREW COLVILLE
by Keep This Bag Away From Children
“Syllabus”
I have a soft blue book with a foreign name on it
which I sometimes stare at, leaning against a book called Words
of an earlier publishing date
and including,
almost surreally, I thought while drunk,
the name “Margaret Pratt”
inside of the cover.
The foreign-authored book has never been opened
except when I received it from a bookstore
using Amazon as a proxy.
I selected expedited shipping.
When the UPS driver came he gave my dog
a little celestial object from his pocket
as hair fell forward onto his eyelids.
I have money to waste, I told him.
“taste-testing”
the pyrenean ibex spoke of its lung defects
to work without regret
thank you for your prompt answer
get at me about drinking later
a kung fu gardener bathed in fragrant hills
his breast caked with papaya
i’m unable to see you in the current
please use your outside voice
missing was a picture of cassius, trying to explain a story, hands upturned
and a hispanic quartet
playing twenty feet behind my small dynamic loudspeakers
we perfected tricks today including ‘sit’
lit fireworks afford a transfer of boredom to money
cassius mostly listened to ‘garage rock’
a chilly brain
the text just changed its dimension
can you talk more about your despondency
can you consider again your goldfish in fragrant hills
existence is a futon
its diagram is unadorned
if you take time to read it you’ve wasted your time
__________________
Andrew Colville (b. 1993) is a poet and student. He lives in Chicago with his girlfriend and dog. http://fijiansmoothie.tumblr.com/