Nathaniel Kenny
Maybe I should go
inside and make an appointment Hi, I’m—
because I can’t seem
to put a sentence together Hello there—
and I’m outside
to catch the trees —happy to be—
in the background
so I seem like a part of the world Hi—
but the wind is loud
and sounds like the inside of a housefire Don’t know—
when played back I just wanted to thank—
where all the family portraits
are eaten away
by termites of flame —I’m trying but I’m—
hungry for memory
or the stuff we call memory Here, this is—
but is actually more like —moreover—
the shit a memory leaves behind Hell—
which is something
I’m trying to make now Look, there’s all this—
so can we please turn the wind off or something —not very—
because you can’t hear my voice —where I might try and—
over the wind that’s
eating up the audio —look—
like a dung beetle Nothing is—
hungry for “memory”
and I can’t just go inside —you so much for—
I need to be out here
to seem like a part of the world
from inside this box
with a black frame —my unending—
that turns the giant movements of the earth
into a house on fire
and look at that —gratitude is—
I have to Hey, I’m so excited to—
go again
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NATHANIEL KENNY is a graduate student at SUNY New Paltz with a BA in English and Philosophy. His work, mostly fiction, has been published in Echo Review, Tamarind Literary Magazine, Zaum, and elsewhere. See more at nathanielkenny.wordpress.com.
