3.16.18

I used to be big
in the dust jacket scene.
I had things on my mind
too bearable to properly endure.
Any given Sunday
was the crux of my personal creed.
I could read the writing on the wall
in six languages and emerge unscathed.
I wore my heart as a hair-shirt.
I managed to let everyone
and myself down, and still do to this day.
I had a way of putting wonder to shame.
I woke up without
any recollection of my name
or how I came to acquire it.
There was a lump in my throat,
and once I swallowed it,
my throat came undone.

-r. miller

They…

They mark their path in prayers.
They think only in terms of flight.
They rip the ribbons of a sunrise.
They drink cheap wine in boiler rooms.
They have masks for every occasion.
They bathe in burning gold.
They take the wind by the wrists and
they hoist it up the flagpole of human error.
They don’t generally prefer preferential treatment.
They can swing like jazz pendulums.
They put their patience on a pedestal.
They have America in their smiles.
They collectively shit bones.
They don’t like us very much.

-r. miller

The Apocalypse Index

Ashes of dead celebrities.
Post-apocalyptic hangover.
Molecular overture.
Discourse on discord.

America is a four-letter word.

Homegrown riots.
Debauched debutante
storming the carrion ball.
A series of broken antennae.

Gorges of blood.

The light in her eyes
snuffed out by the mob.
Cornucopia of corpses.
Shitstains on the teeth.

Hairline fracture.

Spraying mantis.
Demolition waltz.
Embers of September
raining down on the block.

Plattered brains. Headache blockade.

-r. miller

Mug

The yellow mug on the table is the worst example of abstract expressionism.

The yellow mug on the table wants to grow arms and pin me down.

The yellow mug on the table is an immaculate clock.

The yellow mug on the table shares its fury with the passage of storms.

The yellow mug on the table is next to a dish.

The yellow mug on the table is the weapon which will fight the third world war.

The yellow mug on the table knows nothing about stairwells.

The yellow mug on the table listens to the gurgling fish shimmying through bubbles and laughs at their futility.

The yellow mug on the table is writing a list poem centered around the phrase “An accident waiting to happen.”

The yellow mug on the table is non-referential.

The yellow mug on the table breaks up the remix with the maker of day.

The yellow mug on the table likes to wear chinos, topsiders, and Ray Ban shades.

The yellow mug on the table thinks it might enjoy getting fucked in the ass.

The yellow mug on the table is a disciple of Wittgenstein.

The yellow mug on the table is a third generation immigrant.

The yellow mug on the table shares its axis with the axis of God.

-r. miller

Kitchen Table Inventory

White cylinder of diesel,
triplicate of 3-ring binders,
crumpled pleather encasement,
chimpanzee fabricated
of periwinkle plastic whose face
surpasses its appendages,
wicker basket of plush baked
goods mounting a steam rolled
gourd missing all of its teeth,
purple clothespin,
and a disloocated nightlight
that thinks its a forest.

-r. miller