Zachary Schomburg
Now Is A Good Time
It takes forever for
the bandages to come
off then they do. She’s
younger than anyone
could’ve seen. Try
spending 20 minutes
seeing the young.
See how young
someone you’ve
never met can get.
What are the distances
between beauties.
Me, I want
my lumps to be
little clouds
over the garden.
THE DISTANCE OF LOVED ONES
What a wonderful park
and wonderful air
just like the air
I remember. I’m me
thinking all my
thoughts like a man
showing my I.D.
walking backward
against the little girls
on horses going
in circles. But what
about Bobby
left in the tree
or the abandoned lube
job. Mother, can you
really be anywhere.
I would kiss
the little boy
version of myself
if my father
who is my age
wasn’t staring at us.
This is a wonderful time
for you, boy me.
Enjoy the summer is all
I’ve ever really wanted
to tell you.
BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU
The typewriter won’t
stop typing I’m going
to kill you. There’s a boy
on the lawn always
working on the same
blue popsicle. I’d like
to be chased to a lip
of something, anything,
a ship’s plank, or a cliff,
or the swimming pool
by my self. I mean
I want to be chased
by my own body, or
by myself in my own
car. You’d be shocked
at how long I can
wait in a long line
when I’m prepared to file
the complaint of my life.
THE POTOMAC CLUB
You really have to
put more coins in
the coin slot to know
the future. The future
is we’ve always lived
in Saint Louis. Right
in the center. In
the arch, even.
In a cute apartment
at the top of the arch.
It’s a secret, like
everything in Saint
Louis. You have to
have a secret password.
What’s the secret
password, Paulina?
Paulina? Yes, it’s
Paulina.
MORE ABOUT GRAVITY
I remember this one
planet, how it had
these two people
kissing on the lip
of a big volcano.
I used to watch them
every night, in the
fuzzy lens of my
telescope. Each time
they’d get too excited
and tip in. Come
home, I said alone
in my room to no one
and no one ever did.