"address" by adam strauss

Scantily Clad Press, 2008

The poems of this chapbook have appeared in:

Blaze Vox & Wicked Alice

Class

I must not forgetTo check

The status ofRasika

And Esther—To hand out

The classes’Chance to judge

Me—callingFor Heather’s voice;

Now—insisting“Nigger-eye[s]” aren’t

Like blackberriesNor phones—

Yes cellular—Too many black men

Yelling un-listened—“Practically

Speaking”Out of my ken.

Truth

Can thereBe true

Or onlyTruly?

The truthIsn’t all

Good—enough’sThe best love.

Catholic

Out of proportionLike censers swinging

His faithWas rock-solid

His goodnessWinging

A test that can bePrepared for;

In thisCase failing

Is a flower-grown guard-railNot breakage

Greening acreage

Heartbeat

Silence saysEaster

Flowers—Rosemary

Savor sprungOut mineral

Tang—yellowNoses a

Polyp—Speechless

Bleeds intoCries.

Unbroken

Speak “yesAnd no unSplit”—life’sNot a bitch.

We’re in FezTomorrow—Till thenGoodbyes!

There’s beenA big break:Don’t restore.Birds call.

I hear tinLightningStrikes.

Emily Dickinson Rocks

ThrowingUp I

“HemispheresReversed”

Fall leavesMe colder

I do notMake fall up

ThroatBloom

GlottalSings mapleLeaves meWithout mySelf—serves soul:HumusFlowers.

Authority

Says who You-I aren’t theExpert dew

Shines arrivalDo you feel

Tug that’sSoul an eggHatches legsHard as hooves

Club anyone.

Reason Beyond

I’m a man holding a dandelion—trying to reasonBeyond female/male.  What your average family in Mali does on Sunday: do you believeThis an interruption or inclusion? Am I correct thinking I’m human in Sanskrit?We is most when mixed company.In Colorado.  In Mexico. In Mexico eating Mole Colorado. 

Sustenance

It won’t just go one wayNor be one thing.

Mrs. Porter mightBe here in the spring.

So much depends onA wheelbarrow:

Women Eating.

“Rainbow Country”

In                        the windy                     light motes makeDust             mixes with               water wipesThe air clean.   The road’sA mess we barelyPass by on:Cheerfully low-downLooking                 at clouds rush-off Revealing a             rainbow.

Brother

There is always something“To say” to nobody:

Clouds cover:Jade waves

A dolphin ridesWith my brother.

Visionary

Please help me                   to                                      make sense

Or when is                                  sensual

Sensible versus screwing up?Birds on poplar boughs cheer me.                              The sky endears me

To blue along with oceans and a period of Picasso; in a different period heDrew less and less of a bull                                        until there’s no doubt.Grit from gentrification dusts wing-feathers.Because                          desire’s                     like that                       thereThere’s a big fight in                             the interstice.                              I need the “untranslatable Ice to watch”:                                            Is gapPrimarily                 problematic                     distance or                     spaceTo see through to?  I’m fond of Ferdinand the bull—frown at the kingWatching cruelty in rings—fingering his wife’s bands—full of hope For a new world.

Mission

Across a bridge from a tribunal Flanked by roses

Essays on iniquity in the makingAt an address the mailman rarely gets right. A week ago swallows Arrived at the mission.

I believe in Bluegrass: Admire a berm for its word.

Tradition

I’m for tradition: a sandstone rock in wind or PicassosMounted on the wall at Alta Mira.

I hope someone sends me a postcard from there.Is woman Sanskrit? I hope—in any language—means strong.

Attempting Direct Address

In the interior—hand against

A bough splitting into blooms ride currents of air

Feels like tail-feathers touching.

At this moment can there

Be a we? Empirical evidence suggests

No until there’s a reader: you who

Statistically—if you are a woman—is less likely to be literate.

Adam Strauss is in the MFA program at UNLV. He adores Las Vegas, along with George Herbert's The Temple and Melvin Tolson's Harlem Gallery. He has an E-chapbook, Nation-State, out with BlazeVox. The poems of Addressare from a manuscript titled From Feminism.