Disconnection Notice
Someone says “let’s set the world on fire” and the Gaza sky
turns white with children’s kites militants struggle to the surface
of the bracken water my girlfriend has lace on her ankles fine
and a flask with a tiny rose embossed on it she has a conscience
that wakes her in the middle of the night with its fingers to her lips
it is the red death she tells me over the phone (but all I
hear are white orchids tumbling out of her mouth and filling my apt
to the brim) a headline tells me “Khmer Rouge jail chief floats
toward New Zealand” a sparrow warbles a dog barks a bee refuses
me even its sting my favorite show ends with the chemist slumped
lovingly over a barrel of methylamine it’s 2015 and stairwells
have become impossible “ each one of them claimed by another unarmed
black corpse and a police officer returning to the scene rinsed in blue light
“questions may be asked after the performance” the nurse whispers
and on the street a sign says have no heart haha
please help and another need money to fix wolf and another one
and another one have you met the rat tribe living in Beijing’s
underground city it’s a mistake to think
this world isn’t addressed to you it’s a mistake
to think it is
**
Russel Swensen’s work has appeared in Black Clock, Quarterly West, Pank, Better, Third Coast, The Collagist, and elsewhere. He is the author of Santa Ana (Black Lawrence Press 2012) & The Magic Kingdom (Black Lawrence Press 2016).
One comment