Shake, Metropolis +

Shake, Metropolis

i.
if they ask,
it was a whole foods summer

&dirty is an abstraction
to which we owe no allegiance ¹

ii.
blunt objects rain down in tides
from photographs of picnic blue

&rafters—the circuit-bent stridulations
of eavesdropping angels incite the air ²

iii.
if they ask, action will be the word
I will use to describe the way we listened ³

iv.
oh karin, he said, if this isn’t fun—
I just don’t know what is ⁴

Footnotes to a whole foods summer

1.  if they answer, you will say you dialed the number in error
;   if they whisper, you will dim the lights &amplify the denominator

2.  even hammers are sharpened objects
when thrown by a steady hand

3.  I speak bone dominoes when the summer spills
,  when tiny ghosts lay hidden in the receiver again

4.  time travel is inefficient, she said. I think you’re breaking up

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David Tomaloff builds things out of ampersands and light. His work has appeared in several chapbooks, anthologies, and in fine publications such as Mud Luscious, A-Minor, >kill author, PANK, and elimae. He is also coauthor of the poetry collection YOU ARE JAGUAR, a collaboration with poet Ryan W. Bradley (Artistically Declined Press, 2012). Send him threats: davidtomaloff.com.