YesYes
BACK
you are a new
kind of eulogy
you never say anything
I'm sorry about the world I say
I'm sorry we have a language
that's really an atmosphere
I will build our future house
inside your belly
there will be one room
devoted entirely to dancing
our ghosts will have sex
with each other
this will have already taken place
one hundred years ago
I'm sorry I have started to forget
your face
first appeared in Diode
ODE TO YOUR COOL HANDS
I be your horse
to whip & to hold
not corpse
not busted ankle
bone & down
my throat you
can plug every
dime every
quarter so I be
your parking meter
& you be my
pipe cutting tool.
from Panic Attack, USA
BACK
or an Abridged History
of the Tenth Grade
BACK
I know I promised you
I wouldn't make a scene
in front of all your friends
but is it so wrong if I write
your name across my shoes
& sit by you at lunch
is it so wrong if I want
to stand next to you in gym
class O your legs remind me
of a river bed I would do
a hundred sit-ups for
you & whisper your name
& kiss my knees pretend-
ing they were youfirst appeared in Typo
Nate Slawson is the author of Panic Attack, USA (YesYes, Fall 2011) and two chapbooks, The Tiny Jukebox (H_NGM_N Books) and A Mixtape Called Zooey Deschanel (Line4). Recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in Diode, Handsome, alice blue, Slope, Cannibal, horse less review, Corduroy Mtn., Forklift Ohio, DIAGRAM, Typo, and other places. He lives in Chicago where he teaches and runs cinematheque, an indie press that publishes chapbooks of poetry and prose.
BACK
MY B-SIDE IS SENTIMENTAL
On the front porch of your lap
let’s dance like we never danced
before on the four-poster bed
of your checkered dress let’s boom-
erang let’s verse / chorus / verse
I’m the preacher getting delicious
inside your church I’m a man
pretty lady the way I make love
pretty lady you’ll Hey Bo Diddley
I draw your name into my gasmask
I duct-tape a meadow to my face
& that’s called sentimental
This is the verse to every chorus
of your dress this is gospel
I mean what I tell you I’m a man
& your legs are bona fide
Your tongue is the bearcat I been
wrestling my whole life for.
from Panic Attack, USA
portrait by Ghangbin Kim
BACK
