SIR

Chris Deweese

NORTHERN LIGHTS

Watching a video
of the Northern Lights,
I remember for a minute
some little awe.
It's getting warmer outside
and I'm inside.
Still afraid of bears,
still asleep in the poem.
The phone rings.
The snow melts to mud.
This is a meme.
I'm tagging the Taliban:
Write down 25 reasons
why you're so mean.

PHANTOM VIBRATIONS

It is terrifying
to wake up without arms.
It is ineffable.
The room seems gigantic.
The cellphone rings.
A dentist sells you teeth.
You forget to feel sorry
for the real armless people.
You freak out.
Life gets more freaky.
You make coffee.
It's hard to drink
because you're floating
in the fucking darkness
of deep space.

JUST THE FACTS

There is no equation more beautiful
than X=X,
no emoticon more honest
than 0.
We pressed our thumbs
over solar-powered calculators.
The digits faded
into rabbits.
Time capsules were a crop.
Clouds were the future.
Everything we did,
we did in real time.
We shot more meat than we could carry.
We tried to ford the river.
The buffalo cried.