Susan Lewis

My Life in Dogs

 

1.

 

(is too)

(or not)

what nitty gritty other has to say to me,

                      language languishing—

by which I mean

            memes of sundry shape & size,

            intuition of higher learning,

            analphabetic pandemonia

            (give or take reluctant growls)

            (sotto voce or ensnarled)

+ someone somewhere’s mother tongue

dripping its wicked victory lap— 

2.

you were telling me that

            (as best you could).

We robbed each other raw

            as lax tectonic plates.

You marveled at the claw

(& by opposing end them)

(oh cock’d contrarian)

(still thumbing your obsolete advantage)

(species specific & oh-so-resourceful)

until the rich overwhelm the when,

meek why in humble hiding,

brazen what posting avian tweets

whilst shoving the text

from its proverbial next— 

 

3.

gilt to a high gloss

            with hard cash,

this swallowing that ‘til

homogenized identity

naps the plate like any

            soothing sauce.

Your lube smooths my marks

unremarkable.

Returning to this

           long-lost

                      brand-new

                                 unit.

Blanking

            out.
 

4.

While life on the edge

seems more & less

          
            central.
Who wouldn’t teeter,

who shouldn’t meter

           other views?

Or ride a silken wheel

between the sheets

(hiding tingled squeals

of ordered meat).

+ trade signs

with fine & bushy tales.

Admit you would play dead.

Permit me to seed red

lest we strut & preen

            & prophesy

the death of those

whose secret games

have seeped into

the aquifer,

            drop by           

                       contaminated drop.

Susan Lewis is the author of "How To Be Another" (Cervena Barva Press, forthcoming, 2013), “The Following Message” (White Knuckle Press, 2013), "At Times Your Lines" (Argotist e-books, 2012), "Some Assembly Required" (Dancing Girl Press, 2011), "Commodity Fetishism," winner of the 2009 Cervena Barva Press Chapbook Award, and "Animal Husbandry" (Finishing Line Press, 2008). Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, appears regularly on the Altered Scale Blog, and has been widely published in such journals as Atlanta Review, Berkeley Poetry Review, Boog City, Cimarron Review, Cross Connect, Eclipse, Fact-Simile, Fast Forward, Fourteen Hills, Fugue, The Journal, Kitchen Sink, The Madison Review, Monday Night, The New Orleans Review, On Barcelona, Other Rooms, Otoliths, Pool, Phoebe, Raritan, Right Hand Pointing, Seneca Review, Shadows of the Future, The Argotist Otherstream Anthology, So To Speak, Sycamore Review, Verse (online), and Verse Daily. Her collaborations with composer Jonathan Golove have been recorded and widely performed, and her collaborations with artist Melissa Stern have been exhibited in New York City and Seattle. She is Managing Editor of MadHat Press, MadHat Lit, and MadHat Annual, and occasional guest editor at Altered Scale and Right Hand Pointing.