Housten Donham


The Habits of Procedure

inner self; outer self

art therapy

in the foggily creeping dawn
you suddenly remember you're alone.
discerning the pebbles beneath your feet,
breathing in the modulated air. an animal
licks your wrist and you feel a deep sadness.

measuring time; clocking space

eating grass

boredom



Easter Philosophy

I eat plates and teacups and I leave the hash browns.
The Humanities Building is being converted into a fitness club.
This this this semester: now's as good a time as any
to start setting goals for your self.
I'm full to the brim with the sound of something soulless
and all I have to show for it is health.
Locked away in an imaginary beach house, an administrator
fist-pumping the door—
I'm eating fortune cookies, dickhead.
The room's in pastel plaids, the body of a child,
bourbon's on the table eating sweet grass
while on the giant bed Dante Rossetti sleeps with a chupacabra.

Other people really exist,
and not just online.
While the body is being driven by the mind,
what are your Keds doing?
Internet solicitations for a donor's eggs
to inseminate: “Must be Jewish.”



Housten Donham lives in Tucson, Arizona. More of his work can be found at his blog, mildred.
 
 
previous page     contents     next page