Gabby Bess


FIRST DATE

On our first date I thought about
the gradual expansion of everything
imperceptibly spilling over
the infinite sides into more everything
Like the universe was a cup
that was sitting on a table
that was a cup, like,
metaphors are just cups
stacking into each other, like,
my body is cup and your body is a cup
but who is drinking
all of this water?

On our first date I thought about
the gradual expansion of my solitary life
and how everyone in movies dances
in the kitchen,
though the accordion
is very rarely utilized
in contemporary music

On our first date I mimicked the hands
of someone who is not myself
for comedic effect
And in the diner we sat
moving our shoulders, constrained
Laughing, constrained
and the lighting
didn’t do us any favors

I reached down
to squeeze the wedge of the lime
deep into the beer can – it squirts
I pointed up
to bring your attention
to the painting on the ceiling

Here, I said
My fingers are more prolific
than the boarded up fireplace
I tapped the napkin
and adjusted the angle
of the fork that went unused
I touched
the rim of my beer
touched the rim of my beer
touched the rim of my beer
My nervous hands pointed up
to bring your attention
back to the painting on the ceiling
and when we looked again
it was more beautiful

Please be in awe of this
Please fall in love
with my nervous hands

How do I get off
of this roof
is what I asked repeatedly
to try to get to you
from the other side
of the table
I just kept
using words
and sputtering gestures
Here & here &
look,
another
I was emphatic
when I asked you,
Did you know that I am friends
with the greatest minds of my generation?
On the blank spaces between the art
hanging in the Gagosian, why not
put our poems there?
Or, consider, a miniature poodle?

But in your bed
when you asked me
to do what I like to you
I could only think of
the last day of earth
when watermelons
have plump, black
seeds again

When you asked me why I must
turn everything into a story,
I imagined the expansion
of all the men who had
asked me this in bed before
but I had an answer this time:
Anything that is amusing
and distracting from death
is worth doing

And I gently reminded you
that perceiving the point
when wakefulness turns
to sleep is difficult
so I just try to do what I can
and in this it is important
to consider the shadow
that formed under your chin
& up across the tops
of your cheeks

Consider the spiraling
wire fence strung
above mud
that the army
crawls under
looping for 10
seconds
until gone

Ok, I will just tell you:
In the painting you can view
an image of ships passing
through teeth;
a whited-out
family crest

But if you must consider art
also consider airplanes:
Do you ever think about
the hundreds of people
calmly reading magazines and eating
complementary bags of pretzels
thousands of feet above our heads?

If you must consider art
also consider that it is
sometimes important to make
extreme efforts
to maintain illusions

Jacob Steinberg


Extract from "2013, A Good Year To Rob Me"

2013: A good year to buy a gun.
2013: A good year to shut down the government.
2013: A good year for you to break my heart.
2013: A good year to rob me.

They robbed me of my poems. They robbed me of my translations. They robbed me of videos and music
and a collection of dick pics that would make Ginsberg weep. They didn’t distinguish between the poems
that were completed or the ones in progress. They didn’t know the difference between the good ones or
the bad ones. They didn’t know the difference between the ones that were meaningful and the ones I
would forget. They didn’t know. They didn’t know. But they robbed me of my poems. Yes, they robbed
me of my poems.

Emma Talbot


Evening Became Night