To Have Done With It
Peter Conners
Now hear this the ball will drop our souls will explode and we will mime our body ravaged by malady now hear this whereby God is the dissected organ of human retardation now hear this voice penetrates violently not malevolently interstices worrisome in their permeability now hear the fingers of the deaf man gather and stack in blessed memory of the piano stool now hear klieg lights depress the spirit of the actor all the better to inspire the audience to calamity now hear the ball will drop our souls will explode and we will mime our body ravaged and abnormal now hear the creation of volcanoes where none existed now hear this I fell in love with Abyssinia as it sank beneath the feet of Ras now hear this so primordial you must have loved it before swallowing now hear this carnivore who has not yet had lunch now write and tell me when I will be carried aboard the ship now hear this stomach consume itself this reflex now hear carnivore not cannibal said the cannibal now isn’t my premise delicious now there are roasted toes and the parts newborns shed toward childhood now you know the ones now aren’t I now isn’t it now it could not be more so if they were traded for guns for opium for pipes for the tiny shrouds of Musca Domestica this Grunt this Squeal this.
The Church & The Steeple
Peter Conners
this is the way we watch humans parade we fold our hands like this lock step this is the way we know how we feel we know how we feel like this lock step this is the way we peel back the fabric our tongues find their nerve ends like this lock step this is the way we close our eyes the empty skies fill up like this lock step into the earth we watch the parades parade through the earth like this lock step this is the buzzing of stinger to star our prayers are old prayers like this lock step a bayonet scar a shrapnel bazaar the wind through our shelter