must balance; this risk; a tablet; peak plasma; the first alphabet;
with the clinical need; finger-sized; it makes sense; the fingers;
were the first; to make sense; this risk; 31 letters; the flower-visiting species;
as opposed to; dung-feeding; the terminal phase; and the;
distribution phase; never; in my life; the relationship; logarithmic;
propriate or; propion; to make sense; this risk; and the;
as opposed to; had i imagined; that’s business; he was as soft as;
bill nodded; his neck trembling; a tablet; peak plasma; 31 letters;
throwing my body; the flower-visiting species; with the clinical need;
in front of; and with the aid of; that’s business; the distribution phase;
and the; on-coming; volunteers; reflected; in the moment of; the fingers
the first alphabet; peak plasma; bill nodded; pooled analyses; in my life;
this risk; the fingers; reappropriated; his neck trembling; numb
Copyright @ 2014 by Christian Hawkey. Used with permission of the author.
About This Poem
“The poem is the third in a cycle of poems, titled Ships of Theseus
(recently published as a chapbook by Dikembe Press), which uses the principle of tuplets in dubstep rhythms as a method of selection/composition. My language sources were the ‘highlights of prescribing information’ that accompany various SSRIs, The Physiology of Insect Senses, by V. G. Dethier (1963), and
Brain Guy, a 1950s pulp detective novel by Benjamin Appel.”
—Christian Hawkey
Christian Hawkey is the author of Ventrakl (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2010). He founded and now directs Pratt Institute’s MFA in Writing program. Hawkey lives in Brooklyn and Berlin.
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