Audio Feature: Richard Vargas (Shō No. 4)
i’m drinking coffee and reading an essay / by Tarantino breaking down Scorsese’s decision to / cast Harvey Keitel as the pimp in Taxi Driver
POETRY submissions reopen JUNE 1.
Established in 2002, revived in 2023

i’m drinking coffee and reading an essay / by Tarantino breaking down Scorsese’s decision to / cast Harvey Keitel as the pimp in Taxi Driver

The sirens—remembering—often sing to me / of my own deathwish.

how else would i describe it? / somewhere below all of us // i paced the dirt floor of a deep / and airless pit, digging and uncovering // only daylilies tight and green

I’m not good at holding / anything real // the glass the weight these night- / blooming jasmine

I share an arm rest / with a stranger who has desires // too.

There is still good meat / on these bones.

I can tell you about strength. / How the sun warms our skins. / How the moon turns tides.

I think I'm tired of auditioning. / I'm not dancing for bread anymore. / I'm not paying your fee.

I split into two and the wolf split into four and we kept dividing
our greatness until I matched the air and the wolf matched the earth

I sling myself up those stairs / with all the other tired men because //
who am I to refuse the slap / of hunched playing cards

Sometimes I forget I came from the Earth / from the rocks, from the spongy moss // was a home for all the squirming, crawling / slippery life that lived under me.