• From Vestiges_07: Catachresis

    “and the simplicity
    extension without relation
    by comparisons
    for which we have no criterion”

    —Anne-Marie Albiach

    “Metaphors of suffocation unbind the poem—their shroud. Terror is identified with its model before it as a way of preventing error.”

    —Alejandra Pizarnik

    look for me in synaptic recipe. unknot my cravat of syncopated spanish onion revealing serrated chandelier tears. peel the telepathic tuxedo sequins for violent thyme boiling poise. i suck the salt habitat from mussel mausoleums. i serve nerves for desertion at the alter of a non-pasteurized filet. i swear on froth majesties that prawns will recognize my undying perforations. inchoate mollusks! vertebrae ventriloquism! seething glutes! splayed skies! cumin swan dive! seasoning metaphoricity with metaforocities in the pinch of my puckering abrasions. on fingertip cufflinks of cartographic latitudes i hunt marsupial designs for my aprons. investigate paranoia activity in procellous cauldrons of broiled cheeks. a parenthetical grammar thawed not dispelled by levitating cataplasm cycloid scales. gluttonous reps of wayfaring measurements. tumeric memory loss and tundric meal for one at the way in. casually sipping a protein shake at the italian wedding buffet reception. the sous i mist. the aromas i pine for. the hermit crabs that courses through. the indeterminate iris. the cosmic scrawl on my lapel yields a plethora of galactic galas. but have i a weigh in dicing creases. have the pulp of poultries marinated long enough. am i sufficiently buff enough to braise the gaze for twenty reps of meteoric microwave refractions. there are tremors in the tango of a whisk. there are terms in the tabasco of a wisp. i am reconciling a baseness recollected in neural squalor. an excess of hypercritical whipped cream in metonymic reservation. recoiling robo coupe. tender soliloquy. intracognitive tempura. garish crane wading the china. stash the cucumber in my cummerbund. shower me in indian spice. ambush me with allergy. wait on me in the wake. ignite my amnesia wok of synesthesia. dine in the tepid romance of a sultry candelabra. eye glide of garnish glow toward wine stains of well-dressed guests. what say the soufflé scalding vowels off the tongue as i lose my manners. i’m thinking with a mouth full. a trace to taste. the furtive penumbra. the figured kiwi rind. foraging amygdala in the roughs. terror. error. poach the osprey. lettuce whale like the lobster dipping the ether. guild the carrots that harbor e. coli. fathom the obedience of incubating servers. find me pitted and dispatched. the poet as sear.

    —Jared Daniel Fagen
    January 2025
    Brooklyn/Arkville, New York

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