Alex Lemon

LETS GO YOU LETS GO ME

On the island
Of caring as much
As we can I am
A blimp bursting
Into flames. Each
Morning egg whites,
Sassafras tea before
We go to the valley
Where the deer
Go to die.  Antler
Soup. We float
The muck in arks
Of ribcage, skull.
To practice creation
We loop floss around
Our pinkies & knot
Dragonflies to
The other end.  It
Is a reward for all
The close calls
We have made
It through.
We look good
Smudged with
Dandelion, plush
With cardinal feathers.
At night, lying
Awake, our guilt
Rising up from
Us like solar flares,
I listen to the other
Beasts snore,
Wondering if they
Are as afraid
Of being alive
As I am. When
Morning comes
I am going to
Start building
A coffin that
I will each night
Until I am gone
Sleep & dream in.

---

Some Days You Kill & Some Days Your Guts Bleed Out All Over the Kitchen Tiles          

The night air glitters.
Around me, the sharp
 
Voice of the breeze.
I treat the dead
 
As best as I can
In this blinding dark 
 
Because they are always
Here, singing all around
 
Me. Each day it gets
More hot. I am afraid
 
It’s true: I would rather be
Wretched than nothing
 
At all—I am not
An animal, I am the
 
Animal. I say I want
All the answers but no
 
One really means
What they say.




--
Alex Lemon’s most recent book is The Wish Book (a finalist for Best Poetry Collection by The Writer’s League of Texas). He is the author of Happy: A Memoir (Scribner--(a finalist for Best Book of Non-fiction by The Writer’s League of Texas) and three other poetry collections: Mosquito, Hallelujah Blackout, and Fancy Beasts.