from Human Week
trouble
trouble
trouble
I left
you
a note
in a field
in Carolina
to find
a new beauty
in some terrible
wind-tortured
place
words
bright like nails
a woman
walking
over a bridge
I was the water
the world’s worst
carpenter
love
like nothing
else
from Human Week
wrap a t-shirt
around my head
and head
into battle
the kitchen
a necropolis
of knives
and pale apologies
butt-dials
to co-workers
and my blood
on the cutting board
better believe
I do more
than spread
cream cheese
with these
civil war swords
now put down
that iron
and kneel
to the fucking king
of forgetting
from Human Week
remember when we
searched inside
each other
after playing
Operation
I always
wondered
what shape
hole the soul
would make
it’s down
to Nintendo clouds
or a person
from Human Week
stuck between
wife &
goddamn
I take
the road
with the most
dust
wires crackle
and hum
the grackles
disband
in a black fan
shot-through
with sun
I pretend
is you
heading
south
without a shirt
feeling lonely
but brave
because
you can’t forget
the way
to
no home
biography
SAMPSON STARKWEATHER is the author of The First Four Books of Sampson Starkweather. He was born in Pittsboro, NC. He is a founding editor of Birds, LLC and lives in Brooklyn, NY, with the escape artist Paige Taggart.