The Fissured Tongue Series
"The Thundershower (study for painting)" by H. Lyman Saÿen; tempera, pencil and printed paper on paperboard; 21 3/4 x 27 3/4 in.; ca. 1916; open source from the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Two poems
Where It Dissolves
Unplaceably There
Matthew Burkett
Where It Dissolves
Unplaceably There
Matthew Burkett
Where It Dissolves
round & dry a crumb of industry capsid
Monte Carlo platelets half-peel bending back dendrites
the pill front porch statuary of electrical abuse
a compromised landscape unfolded in the body
whose veins are a form being filled
grit in the occipital lobe in the well of marrow
over and over soporific bureaucracy of the indexed self
mandatory media only visible to those who suffer
the unreal the gashes come in checkbox form
calendars crossruled with byproduct pollution gaze
repetition invoked to assuage catalogical disorder
dizziness & collapses on the bathroom tile sulcal zaps
the lethargy means it’s working relax
round & dry a crumb of industry capsid
Monte Carlo platelets half-peel bending back dendrites
the pill front porch statuary of electrical abuse
a compromised landscape unfolded in the body
whose veins are a form being filled
grit in the occipital lobe in the well of marrow
over and over soporific bureaucracy of the indexed self
mandatory media only visible to those who suffer
the unreal the gashes come in checkbox form
calendars crossruled with byproduct pollution gaze
repetition invoked to assuage catalogical disorder
dizziness & collapses on the bathroom tile sulcal zaps
the lethargy means it’s working relax
Unplaceably There
It can never quite be placed it drifts red blur so
in integument tectonics bourdon and suspense
passing by a tidy doppler thins blood its caricature
[one evening i saw a dead mockingbird in a supermarket parking lot
a stiff gummy wing raised up on a balding mast slide on the asphalt
propelled along by the gusts of the outer band of a tropical storm
flight that shuddered with basal friction with erratic jolts with skids
and unmotivated clinamens leaving behind unnamable fragments
scattering bird bits at twice the speed of the tottering bird clump]
the nurses wrap us up rough draft mummies
brouillons au lieu des brouillages not understanding
the way it drifts gone a mothwing muddy mauve
[i can’t say why but i started to yell at it with hope too much hope]
It can never quite be placed it drifts red blur so
in integument tectonics bourdon and suspense
passing by a tidy doppler thins blood its caricature
[one evening i saw a dead mockingbird in a supermarket parking lot
a stiff gummy wing raised up on a balding mast slide on the asphalt
propelled along by the gusts of the outer band of a tropical storm
flight that shuddered with basal friction with erratic jolts with skids
and unmotivated clinamens leaving behind unnamable fragments
scattering bird bits at twice the speed of the tottering bird clump]
the nurses wrap us up rough draft mummies
brouillons au lieu des brouillages not understanding
the way it drifts gone a mothwing muddy mauve
[i can’t say why but i started to yell at it with hope too much hope]
About the Author
Matthew Burkett lives in Waltham, Massachusetts. In the precious time when he's not researching for his PhD candidacy exam or teaching writing classes, he is writing his first collection of poetry.
About the Work
"These poems are an attempt to express schizophrenia, not necessarily from a first person perspective but through language, industry, the social, and space. In the past year, my writing has been inspired by music (such as Salvatore Sciarrino), languages, and specialized discourse."
Matthew Burkett lives in Waltham, Massachusetts. In the precious time when he's not researching for his PhD candidacy exam or teaching writing classes, he is writing his first collection of poetry.
About the Work
"These poems are an attempt to express schizophrenia, not necessarily from a first person perspective but through language, industry, the social, and space. In the past year, my writing has been inspired by music (such as Salvatore Sciarrino), languages, and specialized discourse."
