POETRY
“Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.”
the man is stayed bent over the canvas
of my sofa. the man is me the man is him
self and I bring down the whip…
Try not to see your own predicament in every fucking thing.
Even from this distance I could go out
the door it would bang shut and crumble
I buy too much, for someone of my stature.
could pawn a skinny metaphor to purchase a plump skin.
its reputed in our lineage— to daydream a life that shreds our pockets.
He has stories that I am not in
anymore. It’s healed this way.
The poetry of Brian S. Ellis unravels, inverts, investigates, and complicates. His poems are radical koans and invitations to forego common narratives.
Okay, picture this: We’re in an elevator. The elevator shuts down. It doesn’t matter where we’re going, only that we’re alone.
I count my homes—
those of my scattered youth
the sanctuary of our young family
the intermittent rest stops
of apartments and vacations.
Millions of Americans have been affected by identity theft. It’s probably the greenhouse gases.
