Audio excerpt from the book-length poem War
Rug War Rug is a work of documentary poetics in the form of a book length poem. Multiple interwoven narratives explore life within zones of conflict as viewed through the lens of current warfare. The narratives range from passages inspired by journal entries, firsthand accounts, and news reports to poetic constructs collaged from military doctrine, Freedom of Information Act released government documents (like CIA interrogation manuals, and detainee autopsy reports), and numerous other sources.
Click the play button on the controller above to listen.
– Forthcoming in XCP: Cross Cultural Poetics
and in LUDWIG (translated into the Italian)
The Blue Lit Stage
-
In Chile, a term used by torturers
for
the torture chamber.
i
I miss the slamming of doors;
the certainty of metal
against anything
other than flesh, or the splinter
of shin
loosed from its hold.
ii
I always imagined my hands
would twist from age,
would long
for the intimate;
like the shape of another’s thigh,
or the strength to resist,
instead of for the ordinary,
like a chair
used simply as a chair,
or the edge of a file cabinet
spattered with coffee,
dented with age.
iii
I have lost many things;
the symmetry of cheekbones,
a jaw line unbroken,
the sharpness of breath
setting teeth on edge, not the rattle
of a bed frame,
or the dimming of a bulb.
– First published in The Progressive
"The Mechanics of Plastic is
a chilling piece of writing..."
– Sam Longmire, editor, Out of Line: a journal of writings on peace and
justice
The Mechanics of Plastic
There is a point at which a material
under stress deforms, this elongation
at yield can be calculated, used
to push a specimen to the verge of rupture.
The art is in the bending, the controlled
application of force, with skill
a subject can be altered permanently,
made to take new form without
impairment of function, or bodily failure,
with proper tools the mechanics
can be easily tested, a pair of pliers
and a fingernail, or a chair made to bend
the reverse of the spine. Success
is not measured in fracture or asphyxiation,
but in the elongation at break, the point
at which the will can be strained no more.
– First published in Out of Line
The Right to Remain
I never realized
that the sound of a baton
drumming against shield
was less like thunder
than the cracking of bone;
that the darkness
spread from broken vessels
was more than testament
to the efficacy of non-lethal force;
that after being brought
to your knees, after the bitterness
of pepper spray leaves the tongue,
