AMPHETAMINE HEART

 FIRST POETS SERIES 10

 

 

 

GUERNICA

Toronto – Buffalo – Lancaster (U.K.)

 

2011  

 

 

 

 

 

Contents

Part One: Winter Hunger

Definitions 

On Cheetah’s Speed 

Street Ends 

Inner Escape 

Sick Day Holiday 

Attention to Detail 

Beginner’s Guide 

Everything Unglued 

J. 

2:34 a.m. 

 

Part Two: Lowered Inhibitions

Damp Mattress Rewind 

Sustain 

Asymmetry

Boozecan 

Second Guessing 

It’s in the Hips 

Vigil 

M. 

 

Part Three: Before the Thaw

Flattening 

Internal Dialogue 

Between Us 

Jackal 

Goat Horn 

The Underlying 

In No State 

Fractions 

Fox and Deer 

Before the Thaw 

B.V. 

 

Part Four: Oral Fixations

Amphetamine Heart 

Caught 

The Sequence of Equation 

Machinations 

The Metabolic Rate 

Caution Tape 

Dog Bless 

Frantic 

 

Acknowledgements 

for my old friend insomnia

Definitions

We shared cigarettes swapped in time with the circular motions of cats about to pounce with backs up like blades, protecting against plagiarized emotions. With our hair teased into tufts of fur we ensured we were not vulnerable against Substance’s rape of youth. We wanted to be oblivious to it, hoarding our confidence, imagining our arrogance to be drawn from the energy of our ritual sacrifices: spiked heels chipping at concrete, knees grating at the base of a toilet bowl.

A chandelier of winter hunger began to reverberate inside of us, churning globules of acidity. Logic vacated the space behind our foreheads. We crawled over each other, creating fender benders that made our teeth knock together. We leaned over heaped plates and binged on pearls, smooth white stones with properties to take the appetite away. Their luxury was too heavy, made the abdomen cave in. From then on everything went close-cropped, the mind only capable of capturing the illusion of an image, but not its essence.

We considered this to be our most brilliant moment.