With Shut Eyes What My Mind Sees Does Not Belong To Me
In the city whose streets I knew
by the size of candles kept lit
for the neighbor’s missing children
I ate melons in a dusty kitchen
and pierced lures into the lips of fish in my aquarium
until each hook became a leaf
that floated out from the fishes’ mouths
and up to the water’s surface.
When birds lit on the front lawn
I scared them off with erratic movements.
The voices of my depressed and handsome neighbors
were roughly the same as mine.
Me and not me and the two halves
by the same name.
I lost some people and made a few mistakes.
Each day, I tried to give myself
a different name. Today, you are Jim
I would say, and vertigo might fill your veins
and you will surely lack direction.
Near the freeway entrance
I tried to keep certain thoughts at arm’s distance.
I watched a runaway kill snow with urine.
Above him, tiny birds
called out from their common nest.
by the size of candles kept lit
for the neighbor’s missing children
I ate melons in a dusty kitchen
and pierced lures into the lips of fish in my aquarium
until each hook became a leaf
that floated out from the fishes’ mouth
and up to the water’s surface.
When birds lit on the front lawn
I scared them off with erratic movements.
The voices of my depressed and handsome neighbors
were roughly the same as mine.
Me and not me and the two halves
by the same name.
I lost some people and made a few mistakes.
Each day, I tried to give myself
a different name. Today, you are Jim
I would say, and vertigo might fill your veins
and you will surely lack direction.
Near the freeway entrance
I tried to keep certain thoughts at arm’s distance.
I watched a runaway kill snow with urine.
Above him, tiny birds
called out from their common nest.
| Rob Schlegel |
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