EN // FR
Poem (Fait Accompli)
Dark leaves cover a decade
in which we highlight our potential
by digging graves by the high school
by the river of part-time opportunity
already the end eats into the present
the last time we see each other
we shake hands
in front of a sunset
that looks like a pizza roll
leaking cheese over a red horizon
years later you wake up in a sinister cabal
plastic bags lick the cavern walls
Poem
My mentor
was a seashell
all moon-pulled
porcelain whorls
that’s enough
of that
we thought
one cartoon skull
dripping red
was enough
one lovely
black-haired
lifeguard stabbing
at my Achilles
after inviting me
into her white tower
was plenty
before a rose
ate his face my
mentor said
feeling pretty good
today, thanks
turns out the world
is just a world
Poem
The state re-
iterates its monopoly
on love by ripping
its guts out
and selling it
back to you
just when you
thought the gestalt
couldn’t get
any worse
from out
the mouths of babes
endless promise
endless passwords
a church
flanked by a cemetery
on 6 sides arrives
with male gaze
in its hair
Brad Liening lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, and bradliening.blogspot.com.