The Year of Feeling Audenesque

 

Flocks of money flood the wires
along the mostly empty train
and mostly empty tracks. On these
memorable occasions when we dine
on our favorite hats, when the room requires
the timbre of a quiet painting
hung on a swinging wall: the artist
got the paws right in this one – they are so, 
                        they look so
heavy, 
but why was the tiger on the tires
in the first place? The ticket inspector
shows up like a college student
desperate for the line she can put it all on.
What mistakes they make! Obsolete
pliers clip away at my receipt, natter
like a metal puppy. On such
memorable occasions when diners
are ashamed of their afternoons,
and the torturer’s website desires
updates more than attention,
we must turn from the window seat
to the dangerous, glee-sharing audience

▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎

Justin Jamail, "The Year of Feeling Audenesque" © 2017 by Justin Jamail. Reprinted by permission of Hanging Loose Press. Source: Exchangeable Bonds (Hanging Loose Press, 2018), page 11.