William Allegrezza


Five Poems

1.
we never asked you
                        to open your eyes
                        to our fragility
    
alongside the metal casings 
alongside the bouncing children laughing  through shards       
alongside the wings broken  in lost alleys
 
 
carried                              
 
                                we transform
 
two lists or a paint bucket
 
           “she slides down the pole
            before stepping away.”
 
 
2.
command sheet
 
do not rest on park benches
 
search for the fleece on your own time
 
seeking enlightenment is a waste of collective
consciousness
 
trust the language of statues
 
do not buy bullets in bulk
 
always claim to understand the wronged party
 
learn the arts of evasion
 
jump when the command comes
 
ask no new questions
 
stay away from art
 
do not join the experiment.
 
 
3.
slowly generating thousands of islands 
 
pieces scatter on the floor
 
from the accent down the hall i know the day 
has begun
 
retreating into visions of enlightenment fail
 
i am sorting through the fragments looking
for myself
 
leaves falling over gifts meant to remain
 
rusting parks are thrown over a yard
 
i remember the same circle in many cities
 
in letting go you must trust instant sight
 
my own skin stepped away for a look.
 
 
4.
i will break you in two 
like lightning and then
spit you out on a pomegranate 
red pavement
           you will not remember
           even that you existed
           much less your name
           or how you came to be
the gods will laugh softly 
before turning to continue
their games.
 
 
5.
you never know quite what is done
yet you still continue to find being 
around every corner
 
“i threw a book of matches at the fire
and thought i was helping “
 
above me the parakeets are seeking winter shelter
and planes are zooming down on an airport
and the clouds are constantly rearranging 
with space itself
 
i am placing fragments together
as a guiding beacon of rocks on a path
through rough woods
 
the view from the promontory
is enough for the trip.

William Allegrezza teaches and writes from his base in Chicago. His poems, articles, and reviews have been published in several countries, including the U.S., Holland, Finland, the Czech Republic, and Australia, and are available in many online journals. Also, he is the editor of moria, a journal dedicated to experimental poetry and poetics, and the editor-in-chief of Cracked Slab Books. His e-books and books include The Vicious Bunny Translations, Covering Over, Temporal Nomads, and Ladders in July.


 
 
 
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