Loudspeaker:: Small Town Rhapsody by Michael T. Smith

Writing

Feb 26

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WUSSY is proud to present new work by queer poet, Michael T. Smith.
If you would like to send in a writing submission, please contact Nicholas Goodly.

Small Town Rhapsody

In milky hours
Of minting towns in the crept of night
When time has overspilt the day
Oh, how the streetlights struggle to stay awake

There’s an arid moment betwixt two eyes
In a stroll with one another,
Projected on the front curtains of our
Silly little castles.

Alethea sits on a lazy boy --
too shy for a stranger who knows you well.
I grew up here (where all I can see
is a journey towards death).

For all of our gossip combined
Is nothing but a shibboleth,
Resurrecting the demon who gives
Prayers over the non-dead.

Where the lawns are as uniform
As the thoughts that produced them.
And the ethereal food we chew on
Is nonetheless a frozen meal.

Where a flowery dress is strung up
Like a rebel who tried to kill
The once and former queen,
Which in a way it did.

Because us neighbors are simply those
That let you know what you’re not:
A pronoun of contraction,
For “we” is always-already nonsensical.

And now the sky’s set a cubit higher
Than the common reach --
A debt running on until the fool is dead,
Making poetry out of a bit of old shoelace.

—

Michael T. Smith is an Assistant Professor of the Polytechnic Institute at Purdue University, where he received his PhD in English. He teaches cross-disciplinary courses that blend humanities with other areas. He has published over 100 pieces (poetry and prose) in over 40 different journals. He loves to travel.

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