My First Death: The High Window


White moths rise like steam: dawn
bright as a headache and I'm still

breathing in a birdcage of gristle, tendon --
lawn clippings up my nose, whole except

for an absent molar, my brother dancing
his red yo-yo above my face, singing

his song about the bees, the one that repeats,
the one he always gets wrong.

Every Child, a Happy Child


Dawn, bright as a needle in the eye. From the corner,
he asks me about the cats in the rocking chair. He asks

me if I can still walk, and how I got the hole above
my ear. I ask him if it's still Tuesday.  He asks me

if peanut butter, by itself, is a complete meal and I ask
him where he hid the jar of quarters. He asks if I know

where our parents have gone, and if I know how to make
pancakes.  I ask him how he got the scratch on his nose

and why he is still wearing the Bart Simpson t-shirt
from last night.  I tell him to check the hood of the car

to see if it's still warm.  I tell him to see which shoes
are missing. I tell him not to cut his hair again by himself.  

I tell him to open a can of cat food and spread it on the front
porch with a fork. I tell him not to be scared, that the cats

will leave his chair and that peanut butter lasts a long time.

David Foster Wallace killed himself. I can't even....

I remember seeing him read when I first moved to NYC at Dixon Place. I remember reading Broom of the System when I was in college. He's three years older than me. He consistently blew me away with everything he wrote.

Shit.

I just want to make you aware of two poetry readings this week that should be fabulous and also, what a coincidence, that I am in!

Nuclear Poetry

Featuring:

Laura Bykowski
Geoffrey Dicker
Alyssa Goldstein
Christine Hamm
Ibrahim Siddiq
Afton Wilky
Aaron Wimmer


Tuesday, September 9, 2008

9:00pm - 10:30pm
Elmo Restaurant
156 7th Avenue
New York, NY


--------
The Poetry Brothel

Featuring:

Stephanie Berger
Nick Adamski "Tennessee Pink"
Valzhyna Mort
Amy Lawless
Paige Taggart
Christine Hamm

and a large bevy of other hotties, inappropriately dressed and ready to "perform"

Friday, September 12, 2008 at 9:00pm
Papa B Studios
907 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY