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Benjamin Niespodziany
14.5 Reasons Why I Love You (But Come On)
[1] I asked the airport air. You asked the airport air. We left. We ordered the visit ourselves.
[2] A train car of rats dropped us off at a van. We gathered our bags like tarantulas. We captured the mist in a shell.
[3] We drove in circles. We drove through squirrels. We drove until the world was purple with chalk.
[4] Our passports were stamped in swamp. We paid a stranger to paint our future. I refused to finish my soup.
[5] We struggled to walk in high water. One firefly, one stag, one click, one jewel. The beetles reached the sky.
[6] The mansion had long been standing on stilts. I tilted the camera to weapon the pretend. We woke in the suite with drool in our eyes.
[7] We bought bubblegum we expected to smoke. We bought smoke we attempted to chew. Down the street, in the sand, a camel slept next to its dead owner.
[--] From out of a helmet, a velvet salesman retrieved his toy plane.
[8] We met a rooftop god. Tranquil slang, cake receipts. He asked about a theater and we sang of no reply.
[9] We hired a driver to find us a pond. Halfway through, our driver lied of moonroof abuse. We dug until our feet drowned.
[10] One hostel held us hostage for eighteen days. Proclaimed it a paid survey. There were no saviors, we saw no wings.
[11] The loading zone was for boats only. Soil below the line. We tied the walls and tried again.
[12] We crafted a raft, the raft cracked, and we swam home. We bought rope. The salesclerk said she'd soon turn ghost.
[13] The autobiographical was so magical in its faults. We poured the food and cut the drink. What were we thinking.
[14] Once home we looked at our soles. We looked at our moon. Emptied insides provide cold wounds.
Benjamin Niespodziany is a Chicago-based writer whose work has appeared in Fence, BOOTH, Puerto del Sol, Sixth Finch and others. His debut poetry collection (with blurbs by Lemony Snicket and CAConrad) was released last year through Okay Donkey, and his novella of stage plays (with blurbs by Alex van Warmerdam and Vi Khi Nao) is out now with X-R-A-Y.
@neonpajamas
neonpajamas.com
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