Were this place to close, or burn, or fall, in an earthquake, down.
Were it to flood or be bulldozed to make way for the gray &
unmusical slab of an apartment building. Were it to be

I dreamed my brother gave his dog to a friend in New York
who could better care for him. we walked into the woods

behind the wintered swim club where the swan babies
held their bonfires. I was

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Wedding

1.    The bride was beautiful. 

2.    The bride was beautiful 
in the way brides are—
intricate updo, professional face.

3.    The first thing my

Power Lines

Spring was coming to its sap-sticky end when
you were telling me something about how they carve out
tree branches to make room for power lines.

You were moving out of your house

swang

at night i sleep next to you, your skin balmy course. like grinded down sweetgum made smooth in the sweat of the mississippi delta summer. you tear and bend at my will. your spine disjoints

EMOTION CASINO

welcome to your life 
your face changes as you watch
outside the frame
among the distractions
you are right now
a body prone to emotion 
Google Maps 
attraction 
you never

I render a coin

for something 

I forgot

the sky 

scratching itself 

into decency

when I

wake up 

always rattling 

around

in my skin

a new aesthetic 

I

Rhinoceros 

          I don’t recommend mistaking everything for love but it’s been interesting 
          —Alex Dimitrov

there are wild elephants
in the country
wrote Marco

take a lemon

the world feels less and less familiar most days
sometimes it is difficult to identify where i truly am
sometimes it is a challenge not to let the ugly parts
infiltrate the joyous

so long to call back 
the first time the phone 
rang i was beneath a 
bridge when you rang 
again the roar of cars and 
cargo overhead made it too 
loud to hear you sense of 
sea partially

This Year

I’m assured the last renters buried nothing but their dog back here. 

I’ve begun to accrue CVS points to diversify my portfolio. 

I can promise the doctor there’s literally no

People are always saying...

Here come the ones who chose / the second option...

"Letter to Brandon" and "Poem for Julián"

After I jack off to hardcore gay porn...

curly like a / shiba inu's tail...

the water's instant when still...

I want to be remembered like this: taut...

"Brooklyn Roof" and "Querying"

salat to define the terms of ritual

               [adhan]

A calling, a culling, a billowing
minaret banner, a cigarette starter thrown
out a moving car window to prove a point.

I dreamed we were in a department store trying to buy you shoes.

My Brother’s Two Screams 

I heard two screams from my bedroom. Outside,
my brother had killed his best friend. That day 
the clouds stayed put. The trees swayed under 
gentle winds, but not

NAME LIKE A GIRL

I am a girl named older. I get in the way
of my own sleeping. Not being average
like that house, full of triangular
objects, where I only know two
animals, a fish and a

I tried to write a warning
                            in chaste trees and pumpkin vines:
the worst men of our lives will return 
                to us in more ways than one.

Preordained,

Chōshū

In the courtyard, 
1867. 
The last heir,

black-haired and naked
before dawn; 
winter 

starlight through the bare 
branches of the banyan 
fucking whistling—

he’s opened