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Spencer Selby
Spencer Selby is the author of eight poetry books, three compilations of
visual work and a study of film noir. He coordinated The Canessa Park Reading Series for six years and created
The List of Experimental Poetry/Art Magazines in 1993. He lives in Oakland, California.
VERTICAL
The source is not hard to find.
Someone yawns, then adjusts
focus to youth buried with blanket
that was me in a revelation. I toss
and turn in the most awkward
position, with street noise joining
steps I took to raise awareness. So
unreal I can hear orchestra
rehearse pronoun. A crowd gathers
and violins screech like brakes of a
truck overloaded. Expensive
microphone and platform beneath.
Delusion attuned to kinship,
drunk on blood memories spilling
from an actor's face. Bits of
dialogue contain a virus
threatening my name. The source
is not hard to find, now that both
of us are stuck in an elevator
between floors furnished by
assurance on the way down.
POSTCARD
Wave by wave mentioned
hope left woman as poet
did shore communication
Diving there one piece goes
with oceanic in body like a
record of leisure wasted
Other concerns deliberate
water flow against house
whose foundation is angry
Could it be the occupant
admits unfortunate labeling
both detours with pride?
CLAUSTROPHOBIA
Roof crocus gurgling
and pages keep flooding
Novel kinds of growth
fruit of past experiment
drawn from a certain
negative extreme
Bitter self-confession
as diversion feeling
no effect below
on top floor
Basic room in middle
with false window
and a door that only
opens from the inside
Tapestry reduced
by endless waiting
for the wind to change
for barrage to cease
and sky above to be
accommodated through
a breach in my defense
Fruit of past experiment
from the inside feeling
no effect false window
and a door reduced
by logic I interrupt
to make another call
IRENE CHANNEL
With cold precision each movement
Like thieves lifting jewels from a tomb
Gold from a vault rusty and vague
Whose trace alone remains close
To strange emotion more than any art
Where elsewhere is my perfect crime
Arrange payoff even at a loss
To forsake the world and be at rest
To dissolve, to ridicule, to reject
Or drive thy sad countenance away
For lovers on the verge of parting
Curse and throw the album down
Weary with thinking, doze upon thought
Of kisses decomposing in your mouth
I said in the beginning, did I not?
It's better dead than this awkward thing
By classic pardon cast the frozen mind
To earth in whose care belongs a name
I dare not speak but somehow know
Will live again as water running
Past the grave of one who appreciates
How long I can hold my breath
copyright © Spencer Selby
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