Black Clock

"Lenny von Dohlen" by Joe Milazzo

The desired number of qualified responses
was the first cut and was the fastest.

You modemed into me.
It was all one box after another.

One interlocking hollow at a time.
I downloaded into you.

It is what live teals and ecrus
fill in here. No way is an avatar

a beast. What you think is roosting,
not nesting, What you think isn't yet

what it routes. What it is isn't thinking,
isn't until. We should know enough to be afraid

of anything that resembles a hamburger.
A dusty rose soon to be mushrooming.

What it is isn't anything, not until.
And what it sends isn't coming

from any one direction. Coming home.
So we meddle into the satisfactions

of knowing things, knowing knowing
eats away at things. Knowing corroding

that thing that is eating. I told myself I wanted
what we both thought we had bought.

You in a prison of me, me an erasure of you.
When will our theme be automatic?

The day after the carbon sings its own song.
In the end, I want only everyone to know.
-
Joe Millazo is a writer, educator, and designer. He is the author the novel Crepuscule W/ Nellie (Jaded Ibis Press) and Habiliments (Apostrophe Books), a volume of poetry. His writings have appeared in Black ClockBlack Warrior ReviewBOMBThe CollagistDrunken BoatTammy, and elsewhere. He co-edits the online interdisciplinary arts journal [out of nothing], is a Contributing Editor at Entropy, and is also the proprietor of Imipolex Press. Joe lives and works in Dallas, TX, and his virtual location is www.joe-milazzo.com.