Apartment Poetry Quarterly

20A              20B              20C              20D              20E              20F

 

20D ERIC TYLER BENICK

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from THE TERRACOTTA FRAGMENTS

XXVI

cumshots of éclairs through the patisserie

braless farmer’s market with bags of okra

another lousy comptroller, another devil at large

bisexual propaganda in the edicts of Pontius Pilate

high-capacity magazines from a 3D printer

champagne toasts for my achievements in senescence

crow’s feet across a grey gutter of snow

taxi unions busted by vertical integration

my passport revoked, briefly detained for imposter syndrome

a roan stallion running the length of Wyoming

my meanings inverted and used against me

 

 

 

 

LXI

a jheri-curled youth rides a rooster, Phoenician phallus destroyed by dirt

Platonist gymfluencers built on offal and abstinence in pursuit of effigy

cupid drains his snake through a laurel wreath, his target supplicant

lurid pétanque of the naturist resort, mimetic slapstick ensues

my supine lover receives the warm curve of my slumber

pastorals for the sovereignty, latrines for the peasantry

ogress outstretched for a hunter’s finalizing embrace

laxatives for Satchmo, gunpowder for Robespierre

The Plateaux of Mirror unspools into savasana

pyramids closed to the public for epiphany

my morning ruined by noon’s approach

 

 

 

 

LXIII

Ingrid Bergman enters through a wound of light

paper diadem on the king of discount furniture

congestion pricing fucks my bodega’s egg man

a phobia of grapes that taste like cotton candy

a phobia of candy that tastes like grapes

the perverted affairs between the signs and their signifiers

not enough tokens for rides, only for whack-a-mole

my speedo bursting with love for my century

I fall in love again against my circumstances

I outlive another tragic figure, a day anointed

if death is, in fact, an end, then it is perfect