"Address" by Adam Strauss
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Transcript of "Address" by Adam Strauss
Scantily Clad Press, 2008
The poems of this chapbook have appeared in:
Blaze Vox & Wicked Alice
Class
I must not forgetTo check
The status ofRasika
And Esther—To hand out
The classes’Chance to judge
Me—callingFor Heather’s voice;
Now—insisting“Nigger-eye[s]” aren’t
Like blackberriesNor phones—
Yes cellular—Too many black men
Yelling un-listened—“Practically
Speaking”Out of my ken.
Truth
Can thereBe true
Or onlyTruly?
The truthIsn’t all
Good—enough’sThe best love.
Catholic
Out of proportionLike censers swinging
His faithWas rock-solid
His goodnessWinging
A test that can bePrepared for;
In thisCase failing
Is a flower-grown guard-railNot breakage
Greening acreage
Heartbeat
Silence saysEaster
Flowers—Rosemary
Savor sprungOut mineral
Tang—yellowNoses a
Polyp—Speechless
Bleeds intoCries.
Unbroken
Speak “yesAnd no unSplit”—life’sNot a bitch.
We’re in FezTomorrow—Till thenGoodbyes!
There’s beenA big break:Don’t restore.Birds call.
I hear tinLightningStrikes.
Emily Dickinson Rocks
ThrowingUp I
“HemispheresReversed”
Fall leavesMe colder
I do notMake fall up
ThroatBloom
GlottalSings mapleLeaves meWithout mySelf—serves soul:HumusFlowers.
Authority
Says who You-I aren’t theExpert dew
Shines arrivalDo you feel
Tug that’sSoul an eggHatches legsHard as hooves
Club anyone.
Reason Beyond
I’m a man holding a dandelion—trying to reasonBeyond female/male. What your average family in Mali does on Sunday: do you believeThis an interruption or inclusion? Am I correct thinking I’m human in Sanskrit?We is most when mixed company.In Colorado. In Mexico. In Mexico eating Mole Colorado.
Sustenance
It won’t just go one wayNor be one thing.
Mrs. Porter mightBe here in the spring.
So much depends onA wheelbarrow:
Women Eating.
“Rainbow Country”
In the windy light motes makeDust mixes with water wipesThe air clean. The road’sA mess we barelyPass by on:Cheerfully low-downLooking at clouds rush-off Revealing a rainbow.
Brother
There is always something“To say” to nobody:
Clouds cover:Jade waves
A dolphin ridesWith my brother.
Visionary
Please help me to make sense
Or when is sensual
Sensible versus screwing up?Birds on poplar boughs cheer me. The sky endears me
To blue along with oceans and a period of Picasso; in a different period heDrew less and less of a bull until there’s no doubt.Grit from gentrification dusts wing-feathers.Because desire’s like that thereThere’s a big fight in the interstice. I need the “untranslatable Ice to watch”: Is gapPrimarily problematic distance or spaceTo see through to? I’m fond of Ferdinand the bull—frown at the kingWatching cruelty in rings—fingering his wife’s bands—full of hope For a new world.
Mission
Across a bridge from a tribunal Flanked by roses
Essays on iniquity in the makingAt an address the mailman rarely gets right. A week ago swallows Arrived at the mission.
I believe in Bluegrass: Admire a berm for its word.
Tradition
I’m for tradition: a sandstone rock in wind or PicassosMounted on the wall at Alta Mira.
I hope someone sends me a postcard from there.Is woman Sanskrit? I hope—in any language—means strong.
Attempting Direct Address
In the interior—hand against
A bough splitting into blooms ride currents of air
Feels like tail-feathers touching.
At this moment can there
Be a we? Empirical evidence suggests
No until there’s a reader: you who
Statistically—if you are a woman—is less likely to be literate.
Adam Strauss is in the MFA program at UNLV. He adores Las Vegas, along with George Herbert's The Temple and Melvin Tolson's Harlem Gallery. He has an E-chapbook, Nation-State, out with BlazeVox. The poems of Addressare from a manuscript titled From Feminism.