less than an arm's length, to the adjoining building's sidewall,
flapping the found e. l. konigsburg book, past its brother and
sister's change of clothes in a violin case, to fringe on lecture
tour in the met. a rigid parting on the far left side, head down,
the flatted back rest. it slid, with a hand slapped on top bar of
the t on the t-shirt. swerved briefly across line creased cheek's
groan, medical record on the wrist's yawned-out read, another
eeaaaan, intravenous pump beeps, some rolling laundry cart's
'hold on let me check.'
slid down lips pursed to short puffs of
"perc," breathed on the welt pocket of a lain tote.
sucks air off
the roof of mouth, with kneeling to redness of arm, leaned out
a bunched bottle-neck wrapper's robur. a cover opened of linen
backed fenye-influenced map with rounded heavens, enclosing
the squared earth. dot branch, broadened bifaces in line joining
as an asterism, while the flickered "like hochong's,' casted from
a dog's bark off. its squared paper resists strokes, to glancing
at
subnasal twitch, on an insect''s more reduced convexity. nudged
glassine pocket's plasticized health card. its slid corner, slightly
abrasive, as crushed gaba mumbled, from fallen crown. taurean,
raised collar fastened with pearlescent button through a loop, an
upsized letter at the halfway of the thirlwell signature. fusing
of
front of thighs on the sofa's material. sweated dash on the centre
of the halter romper's front shirring. skims a nip with the reverse
of a silver dollar. its caravel yanked, with the sleep-blurred "guh,
nuda canes," counted in threes, at eye mask's soft backing,
lifted
from below ribs. quieted "sulci," rived and lobbed cross the gate
towards its assigned beau, as the adjustable band loosened to the
collar. its foam pressed, interlocked around octads, in angling to
breeze carried fragments of someone here, followed by mouren?
edged backwards slowly, turning shod of right slipper's toe post,
seeing past the transparent container's mao er duo and unstacked
plastic visor, to sidelong of a lowering of short-sleeved shoulder,
bumping shy of another, to pick at the wide boat neck of her top,
to where it was clung, on streaked logograms. clearer at sternum,
the characters for _ yuan when stepped from winded down stairs,
a couple long-armed fist pumps downward, to pulling at aquiline
pant. prodding for slotted fastener of packet pocket in ciré, to the
veined folded leaf, he opens to the pressed pleats of a tissue with
adrenal, "bit left, wilted river crab ballooning." hair divided from
the middle is slicked, stanched in the lag, hearing last of xeroxes
up, on
cubicles like appressed ping pong tables, often lit by bitty
bulbs, wrapped in red plastic carrier bags, dampnesses, eversible
along grips of a forearm. while left standing, he turns to the burp
in a lava lamp, heads on end to pronotums. his shoulders bowed,
practicing infrequent and exaggerated blinks to chrome newel at
the stairs' top. fingertips drawn to lifted brows, closing lids with
first drops of rain, at the last time, he smoking a partagas, nearly
16, along the small trail past career booth, strewn with cups and
straws. the third's going on about being "bezzies," flattening the
blousy shirt across his hips, reverse turned. gazed sideways, her
eyes opening, as with rain smelt on the hot slate path. spreading
of a branched, palmate weed is said "so scurfy," in swivelling to
assumed myoclonic foot jerks, but padded base pressed to better
lean, to claim minutes. humidity and stasis in craning, sidelying,
with tollings of a church bell. thumbs meeting in lamina groove,
a sustained pin, _hand strokes near lost in intervening resonance
hochong, refers to Michael Hochong, the French/Hawaiian/Chinese dandy in the
1970s, known for his extravagant clothing.
mouren, someone (mandarin)
mao er duo, snack food, shaped like cat's ears
river crab, refers to the slang term denoting censorship in China, the terms, a
near homophone of 'harmonious society', the term used by president Hu Jintao to
describe the reasoning behind censorship
Louise Bak is
the author of
Syzygy (DC Books),
Tulpa (Coach House Books) and
Gingko Kitchen (Coach House Books). She's the co-host of
Sex City, Toronto's only radio show focused on intersections between sexuality and culture. She also curates/hosts a salon series called
The Box, which encourages communication across literary and artistic borders.
the Tuesday poem is curated by
rob mclennan
