Back to Issue Fifty-Nine

STANDARD TIME

by NATALIE SHAPERO

Congrats to good sleepers,
who miss the switch. I’m always up.
The phone clock burns
like a French cigarette. I see
the red hour reset.

Clock, stop copying me. How
I spiral-wiped my prints from every
surface in this city, how I undid
those years. I blinked myself
back like tears.

SAN SIMEON

by NATALIE SHAPERO

Balletic pines, incontestible sky. I have lived
my life in letters. Always with me
are the words of Rilke: ALL FEELINGS

ARE FINAL! IT IS TOTALLY OKAY
IF YOU WANT TO KEEP GOING AND LET
EVERYTHING HAPPEN TO YOU, BEAUTY
AND TERROR, BUT YOU MUST BE AWARE
THAT YOUR ATTENDANT EMOTIONS
WILL BE INDELIBLE; NOT EVEN DEATH

WILL RELEASE YOU FROM FEELING THEM
LITERALLY FOREVER—HOW TOTALIZING,
LIKE A PILLOWCASE PULLED FOREVER OVER
YOUR HEAD, BY WHOM AND TO WHAT
END YOU DON’T KNOW, THAT’S THE POINT!

author pic here

Natalie Shapero ’s latest book is Stay Dead. She lives in Los Angeles and teaches writing at University of California, Irvine.

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