MEMORY IS NOT
Memory is not another
Man talking
With a full mouth
The foam lake recedes
The red hen spits up
Her downy skull
Isn’t it unacceptable
In the current political climate
To be in love
You said
Showed me
The castanet in your bed
Warm to the touch
As if embarrassed
The roughage of
Planetary fitness
Many are proud of
There’s no real reason
I haven’t written to you
For this long
If you can believe it
It just fell together
A designer’s trick
To soften the edges
They multiplied them
Against us
Copper salt
Before a sudden change
I’m still unsure of
When we wanted to die
It seemed so easy to survive
One thousand cuts
Found you pacing
In a recognizable state
Occam’s razor
The human thumb
Capable of what
The mind is not
More or less lucky
I remember the doctor said
Smiling you have no idea
What Freud says about this
He was very excited
I was glad
I could help
HOW TO BE A POET
UNDER THE NEW REGIME
I.
I’m not interested in being a poet
II.
I’m not interested in being a poet
There is no such thing as a poet
III.
The work is enough
IV.
The longform poets assure us
The work is enough
V.
The men who enter your neighbors’ homes
To disappear its inhabitants
Assure us
The work is enough
VI.
The grey pine outlives
The loss of its bark
VII.
The grey pine
Torn to soothe a momentary hunger
VIII.
The longform poets assure us
There is no such thing
As a momentary hunger
IX.
The future notwithstanding
X.
The future notwithstanding
The fine print of a man
XI.
We do what we must
XII.
There is no such thing
As a poet
XIII.
I’m not interested
Withstanding
What we must
XIV.
The sap that stains their fingers
Their gums
XV.
I’m not interested in enough
biography
ROBERTO MONTES is the author of I DON’T KNOW DO YOU, named one of the Best Books of 2014 by NPR and a finalist for the 2014 Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry from The Publishing Triangle. His poetry has appeared in or is forthcoming from The Lambda Literary Spotlight, Guernica, PEN America, and elsewhere. A new chapbook, GRIEVANCES, is available from the Atlas Review TAR chapbook series.