Chris Glomski is the author of Transparencies Lifted from Noon (MEB / Spuyten Duyvil, 2005) and two chapbooks, IL LA, from Noemi Press (2002) and Eidolon from Answer Tag Press (2008). He has published translations of Italian poets Francesco Giuntini, Maura del Serra, and Eugenio Montale. He lives in Chicago's East Ukranian Village.
Just the Thing
would be
a book
on which the rain
as in
IL PLEUT
the cover painted
profile of
Apollinaire
avec pipe Above
it things taped to
the wall the better
to remember An old
Halloween mask
mouth brow and eyes
painted on jutte
in post-impressionist aux-
Ypsilanti-Michigan style
Not a lotta news
beyond this winter
weather Count on
clearing the car of
pillowy tufts, then deciding
to take the train Cough
It's crowded, too many
books on this desk Define
'Rockist' as one
who thinks Iggy
still looks good with-
out a shirt The verb is
always tense It should relax,
take off its shirt It's chafing my
hands, it's the dry air
the arctic chill, did you
get some more Lubriderm?
The catfish swivels his
eyes at the bottom of the
aquarium Or hers Also on
the wall a work on
cardboard by Jake
Smith 'sends in its turn the
needed rain' Somewhere the sun
is setting behind a leafy forest
overlooking the sea Not here
It's night and the bathtub
was an ice bucket until I
could get heat flowing
through showerhead
shivering then dialing back
on the too-hot stream In Italy
caldo sounds a little like cold
until experience associates
with scald-o and scalding is
a better word than too hot
to describe water that
spills from a pan
dragged from stove
by a curious tot About the likeness
of infinite cold to infinite
heat A boreal
poet skalds like the Norse
aurora Back to basics Dr. Jkl;
Mr. Qwert Trees Pictures
of trees hung
above a closet
whose sliding
door reveals a paint chip
in outline of South America
where blazes currently
the beautiful gas jet
of summer Having
a great time Wish you
were The departed
placed in frames The milk
crate on the floor Streetlamp
spills on carpet The independently
declared being of things
beyond Tuesday A literal
figure assembled in
time For what For
metaphor The former tree
ornament now the cat's
toy Holiday as
photographed blur Used
with the to indicate the
proper or fashionable
way things nudge against
other things Hence
paper writes on pen Is
then cremated by computer
Or is lost within key-
board The paint dried
in varicose drips This
swivel chair contains
an I Am he Eh Amo
not sufficiently preferred
to ammo And loving hooks
its phantom sign No one
will know I'm speaking
to you No one will think
I am speaking No one
will know that no one will think
I am speaking