from City Expos
Stephen Nelson
6. Kingston
panda & pasta
are silently aligned
smoking ganja under willows
in mystical Devon
the reeds are singing, Beyoncé
- listen!
or be the quiet birth of calculus
7. Dar Es Salaam
stars, said Caesar, or meadowlarks
labia? she said - no, Tanzania
weeping honey over milk thistle
the mushrooms tender in the forest
I sip the sap, the syrup from my fingers by telephone
8. Quito
hummingbirds
a bath of fermented bananas
sitting on a wall of translucent marble
when the military arrives
cells & saki
cells & no self-respect
love is aromatic in the plaintive thrum of rain
9. Lhasa
birds are ripe apples
one bird
one bite
marble light leaves wings
in yellow cloud coronations
my skin predates the emperor’s bathroom breaks
10. Vienna
a tower of cellos
burns the brasserie
Freud cooked spaghetti for the Nazis
maybe I’m poor
but the medicine
I spoon fellates
egalitarian sonatas
11. Tromsø
float towards me
anthropologically
Emily pours salt into the science of beluga bliss
mountains are missing
from a storm cloud’s nutritional value
from Andrew Lloyd Weber’s nubile anthropomorphism
from the archaeology of the dawn
Stephen Nelson is the author of several books of poetry, including Arcturian Punctuation (Xexoxial Editions) and Lunar Poems for New Religions (KFS Press). He has exhibited vispo and asemic writing internationally and published in numerous journals, including 3am, Posit, Big Bridge, BlazeVox Journal and The Adirondack Review. He is currently working on a YA sci-fi/fantasy novel. Find him online at afterlights-vispo.tumblr.com and afterlights.blogspot.com.
