Welcome to “Poetry at The Arts Fuse.” A new poem every Thursday.

Corner Eye
 

I too might inspect
the corner of the carpet
if I knew I could stash
golden paperclips and
random puzzle pieces
between its surface &
whatever that other
shit below it is. Hi. I
disagree with the writer
who said on the comic
book resources website
that the ability to fly by
screaming really, really
loud is inherently silly.
I just typed something
really dumb, but I came
back to make sure I
copped to doing so. A
recent claims number
is 19031582. Don’t
usually type poems
on the computer. Just
crossed out five lines
about my health, or
actually about my
dislike of occupying
medical habitats in
the civic spheres. I
asked a hip specialist
how much it would hurt
right after getting a hip
replacement. It being
mystical. Really almost
tempting to break from
costume in that kindly
professional extended
temporary moment.
He said it will feel
like being kicked in
the hip by a donkey
but the donkey will
get smaller every day.
You have a pretty good
idea how semi-hard
that it is to go on from
there. I’m going to
start teaching again
the day after tomorrow.
I have to preserve
tomorrow as the day
I get ready for teaching.
The main thing to do
Is wake up and not
Trick Yourself Out Of
Having A Mind. Or
give your mind a wide
birth so to function.
That may be a way
of recognizing mind
actually. I don’t know.
I have subscribed to
no philosophies. No
philosophy has my
credit card number.
No autopay. I know
how this sounds.
Don’t worry. The
distortion is coming.
Some kind of slash
through. Camo in
public. I defended
snakes on twitter
right before writing
everything after
the first dozen lines.
I hate the relentless
way this won’t go
anywhere but down.
But by saying so
I become available
to shedding hate.
I’m having weird
memory gaps. For
me. I’m saying this
both on and below
this surface. I’m sorry
I don’t always remember
names. The dumb thing
said isn’t in the poem.

Anselm Berrigan‘s most recent book of poems is Pregrets, from Black Square Editions. He is the poetry editor for The Brooklyn Rail, and host of the Rail’s Wednesday afternoon online reading series.

Note: Hey poets! We seek submissions of excellent poetry from across the length and breadth of contemporary poetics. See submission guidelines here. The arbiter of the feature is the magazine’s poetry editor, John Mulrooney.

— Arts Fuse editor Bill Marx