ISSUE ELEVEN | FALL 2018
[...]
iffy iffy
pattern we’ve got here wow I mean what an iffy iffy shape I mean I mean it’s an iffy
iffy rhythm dang OK an iffy sequence display but wait geeze wait isn’t this scheme this
array its own raison d’être I mean OK is this kitchen table’s face not a not-un-oomph-
fully motion-scarce space that does somehow some unframed way catch torque via its
very own outlay but then wait hmmm in that case what’s the best-case layout of day
break because OK see what we’ve got here is Z’s daily paper perched upon Z’s dining
plane
[...] [...]
plus plus OK the latter table’s also topped with grapes & buttons & cake ah
look dammit behold oh would you just behold OK please the cake buttons grapes
grapes buttons cake etc OK but but above all else let’s not forget the stupidly
swoopy steam of the huge hot hot cup of coffee I mean OK look look it’s not any-
thing bad really it’s just smoke swathing a plane OK yes 1 whole dining plane & esp.
the local daily oh so ready to be ingested & esp. its news RE: how the very soil on
which Z dilly-dallies daily to gank the driveway’d news is set to be (ahem) en-
gulfed in floods of 3 or 7 or 9 or even OK OK dammit 13 17 19 (ahem ahem)
feet
[...][...][...]
the piles of old news though the piles those piles I mean as time passes there’s
a rhythm there too OK OK a rhythm birthed by the very sundry news stories con-
tained in each such oldtimey-ish set of sheets but wait OK wait what if what if
said stories don’t quite fully permeate Z’s brain but instead skirt Z’s memory’s
reins because it’s not in sanity’s best interest to be too keen on floods say or on drone
strikes or the plight of refugees detention centers police brutality OK OK OK such
things
[...][...][...][...]
but but OK what’s left in the wake of what Z’s memory maybe very smugly won’t
deign to retain is this recurring morning spectacle that’s also a face that’s also (ahem)
haze that is also OK OK one huge cup of coffee ready to be slurped coddled stirred
sipped etc OK but whose steam is right now shirking slash perpetuating its own mo-
tif
[...][...][...][...][...]
so OK wait though wait is it perhaps unforgivably escapist if not flat out (ahem)
mean to simply want to focus on what’s so continuously surfacing from its own (ahem)
fleeing
[...][...][...][...][...][...]
well not necessarily no yet ritually yes ritually Z is in fact worshipping poly-
vinyl chloride cover-topping steam yes dammit OK the stupidly swoopy steam of 1
huge hot hot coffee that’s revealing itself to be what though is it nothing is it (ahem)
everything is it a betweeny sorta thing IE edges ledges croppings sinews slidings
sourcings seethings etc infinity or OK is it the very sort of event Z must needs des-
troy just to get to getting around to seeing clearly through to the drone strikes police brutality the oligarchs detention centers the refugees oligarchs OK OK the impending
flooding
Steve Barbaro's writing appears in such venues as New American Writing, DIAGRAM, The Common, 3:AM, The Elephants, The Yale Review, The Collagist, and Web Conjunctions. Visit him online at stevebarbaro.com.
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