Three Poems

Apology

it was just me
in the way
thick and obstinate,
a dumb kicked animal.

 

I’m sorry to say,
had you been less
anti-work
and I less anti-school,
perhaps we could have been good for one another.

 

knowing the rules of language
the way soap is supposed to smell
(and all according little laws)
I thought I knew this house too.

 

and given to god,
that stick dragged
across the floor
heavy breathing in its
every scrape–

 

you could have swung, and I would’ve
left it.

 

Pleasure Math

flame + stone
yours + mine

 

is this making love,
that craft you spoke of sat on the floor of our small wretched kingdom?

 

stay in prayer, a simple get–
the planes all drop from the sky at once; your goods remain perishable.

 

no more hurrying up
just because you’re in trouble, always craving liquor bright like blood,

 

you and your sick piggish sister!

 

gold + diamond
cash in + collect

 
 

Wiretap

getting really into these indistinct rituals it’s

 

nothing of the sort

 

not a clue but you don’t have to know much to know

 

if you’d go to war for this country,

die in a desert for this gay ass failed state

 

indistinct you can’t imagine / cannot fathom (?)

 

what and what about

 

a feeling this could all come down

 

what’s this and where did you find it

 

wanting more than we could give

 

picked it up to bring something

 

indistinct
empty hands always

 

a strange place but still

 

well I never said that,
I never said that

 

and even if it were true

 

the next best thing I guess is indistinct disarray / dissipate (?)

 
 

did you want more of this? does anybody want more

 

toss that back

 

watch the candle

 

block it all out

 

in my mind I saw the words and
in the moment it all made sense

 

it goes that way
put it out
doesn’t it
put it out
I get the feeling there’s
someone here who knew
better

 

what did I tell you?
indistinct

 

never wrong

 

found you half dead in the bathroom and laughed

 

I was better until that night

 

I saw / thought (?)

 

once you give me a break I’ll never go back

 

indistinct whatever

 

if you even thought to ask!

 

 

Serena Devi

Serena Devi is a Brooklyn-based writer and ESB fellow at the Poetry Project. She is currently working on a collection of poems about hedonism and the end of the world.