Poetry from Joshua Martin

memento to a plodding habit

martyrdom song sequence metaphors

pandering to the commonest doom

                                         disgrace:

        whiff, mineshaft of miserable digressions,

              wallow pitiful grease pit – – –

(‘what sullen arachnophobia could unleash

   a stammering gut punch into a public

   toilet cowering like an octopus onion?’) – – –

                   welts, reading between the tonsils,

                   a star filled night growing into a

                   troublesome bacteria digression

. . .

       kisses mask a demanding goiter

                                                             . . .

when dismantling an anus,

                 the yardstick comes in handy:

(‘can thou wither without barking

   into a jar of oily rhododendrons?’)

                                                           . . .

         screaming texts match

         seeping manicured

                                      hams

. . .

relaxation plunge,

              simplified mosquito net algorithm,

      the skimpy nooses begin to outweigh

                            boiling sponges

A Surging Crocodile of Iridescent Bubbles

Loot, my leg, shifting chamomile masks

planted like a shaving cream skull:

                                       ecstatic collagen

                                       sweeping textured

                                       scorpion alarms

         what rises

         to shape a

         paving stone?????

Some bareheaded regrets bashing silhouettes

on a mission to glue notorious islands together

as hollow as a skinned bowl of haughty vomit

less a gesture than a dungeon of mellow curls

                             does this sweeping poison

                             endow lashing with guts

                             shuddering beneath shapely

                             umbrella pajamas?????

such hermetic shingles

spilling backwards fungi:

                                   imaginary sculptures, branches,

                                   the loosening rags rattling sauce,

                                   thunder / deeds / inversions /

               sneaking off in

               a gallop of inclinations /

escape route wings

regurgitating tranquility /

                              stars view the nimble toenails

                              while starving balconies grieve

Feasting on Bone Marrow

merging porcupine waves

into soiled newspaper holes

widening like serenity tears

laughing like cradled whips

          , groan

    , searchable demagogues

, what presence apologizes

to crinkly asparagus wands

                              . . .

                splendid nude seagulls

                violently snoring pods

                obsessive atonal desire

                                         . . .

the dangers of sleepwalking

through murmuring anxiety

        , the public blanched

                         , a castle withering

                           between pubic hair

                           teeth grinding lemons

, it cleared the room of ozone

& bled sugar hemispheres

                                         . . .

                a bronze cave

                mystifies a burning nipple

. . .

a sulphureous forehead fireworks display

drowning in secreted foliage cathedrals

blasting subterranean strawberry insects

                                                        . . .

                         what blushes

                                       obscures

Phenomena, ever subordinated, enters the void

despite, most foul context requiring

situational essential trapezoid squirm,

                       elevator periscope mannequin

                       robbing petrified subjective

                       thoroughly lobotomized scope = = =

       un,

          ethical shoehorn postponement,

grieve  : :  (allowable excerpts

                  forming archival

                  weather reports) : : , , , ,

          INform,

                    ed = actionable,

ethical, abomination sprinkler

                                          system, , , ,

        > struck By A

           viper < , , , limitation

                       textual entry [

   us | we | them | sEt FrEe, |

              fictions critical analysis / /

/ / . . . . .   frivolous vertical

                            coercion :

         MaCHiNe tO provoke

         formal NoVeLtIeS . . . . .

/ / / / / ,

                | assuming argumentations

                  implicated contradictions

                  eras, moths, theories, eons:

                        a disputed rocking

                          CHAIR, , , , , ( . . . . .

      clear throat, an allusion,

outlining proposal lamentations

                    , the tExt that BuRsTs

& spills

            literary MoTiFs

Joshua Martin is a Philadelphia based writer and filmmaker, who currently works in a library. He is a member of C22, an experimental writing collective. He is the author most recently of the books O! fragmented glories (Argotist Ebooks), Prismatic Fissures (C22 Press), and peeping sardine fumes (RANGER Press). He has had numerous pieces published in various journals. You can find links to his published work at joshuamartinwriting.blogspot.com

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