[dominion] [I Shall Not Be Saved but I Shall Be Risen] [Our Poverty Her Aloneness My Lip Sync]

1. [DIRECTIVE] eat without tasting—that’s how I survived—forked slop nightly—a quick throat

2. [CONSUMERISM] or [ALL FOR ONE ONE FOR ALL WITH ALEXANDRÉ DUMAS] a quarter—fifth grade—could last a week those red hot Mondays—tart Tuesdays— jawbreakers middle of the week—then Wrigley’s Wrigley’s Three Musketeers— this sugar—none at home—the fuel

3. [PORTRAIT OF MY MOTHER WITH OLIVES IN IT] woe is woe—word cannot touch it—therefore martinis—Sinatra—night

4. [ESCAPE VELOCITIES] or [SELF-PORTRAIT AS YOUNG NIETZSCHE] yardstick—hairbrush—flat of the spatula—my grandmother’s hand—buttocks and head—cheek—how I let father too beat until his palms blistered red

5. [BAD NEIGHBOR] [BAD DOG] could bite a baseball bat in half—dog’s name Rebel—wet nose would greet each visitor between the legs—deep sniff front—poor dear mother—deeper sniff rear

6. [SPAM] sci-fi horror this aspic—gelatinous birthing of meat by knife

7. [BELIEF SYSTEM] godless—prideful—I never prayed once those days—crawdad—shallow stream—my brutal Jesus

8. [DRIED BEEF] or [THESE ARE NOT THE POEMS OF CATULLUS WITH ENVOI] this is not codex plugging a bunghole—still I monked the pages cut thin as twilight with my hungers—all my boy vulgarity—hates and loves— coiled inside a juice glass

9. [DIVINATION] one silver coin I flipped for hours in the dark just to hear that cowboy- jangly future spinning spurs

10. [BRITISH INVASION][EARLY DAYS][SHE LOVES YOU/YEAH YEAH YEAH] shower scene lip sync—catheter mic—vinegar stink of the douche bag

Dennis HinRichsen

Dennis Hinrichsen's tenth book, Flesh-plastique, will appear Spring 2023 from Green Linden Press. His previous books have won the Akron, FIELD, Tampa, Michael Waters, Grid and Wishing Jewel Poetry Prizes. New poems of his are appearing or forthcoming in The Cincinnati Review, The Glacier, Ninth Letter, The Pedestal, Posit, RHINO, Under a Warm Green Linden and Witness. He lives in Lansing, Michigan where he served as the inaugural Poet Laureate from 2018-2019.