Nate Slawson
Sam
you are a new
kind of body
made out of glass
If you lie down
on the thick carpet
in my parents’ living room
I promise not to break you
I would like to shine
a flashlight into your chest
Your heart is forty-two cherry
Lifesavers stuck together
in the shape of a fish heart
If I was a glass-bottom boat
we could drift real slow
downriver to Vicksburg
We could do a lot of things
real slow if you like
Sam
you are a new
kind of garden
planted in my throat
The moon grows big pink
when you start soft-talking
into my sousaphone
I guess that’s why I want
to swim in your fountain
make dog sounds
in your rose bushes
You are the first thing
I think of when I think of
lightning bugs & rabbits &
x-rated flower beds
Everything about you
tastes Wild Turkey
it’s a hell of a thing
I want to run naked
in your summer grass
& start a family
of little gardens with you
Sam
you are a new
kind of birthday party
& hotter than
an aluminum slide
Everyone loves you
You are a stunning Appaloosa
When I put my legs around you
I almost feel Presbyterian
I feel like Stonewall Jackson
with my arm sawed off
I am delirious
I think I’ll call you Antietam
You make me want to kill someone
Sam
you are a new
kind of suicide note
written on the chalkboard
in algebra class
What is the standard equation
for being dead
I’d like to know
because I haven’t seen you
since Tuesday
& now it’s Friday
I’ve spent the past
three days in detention
working on a solution to
x = you + me / death
but the only answers
I’ve come up with so far
are lyrics to a Nine Inch Nails song
Sam
you are a new
kind of retention pond
filled with baby hammerhead sharks
Wouldn’t you rather
be an ocean
We could live together until I’m dead
I would make a very nice iceberg
I want to settle in
I want to breaststroke for hours at a time
You don’t understand
half of what I say
You ask what is an ocean?
I hold a mirror up to your enormous eyes
& shatter it into a thousand pieces
--
Nate Slawson is the author of Panic Attack, USA (YesYes Books, 2011) and two chapbooks, including The Tiny Jukebox (H_NGM_N Books). Recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Bakery, Whiskey Island, and other places. He lives in Chicago and is the publisher/designer of THE NEW MEGAPHONE.