rad poetry #19: for christy crutchfield

RAD POETRY THANKS CHRISTY CRUTCHFIELD, CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI, MAUDE (OF COURSE!) AND ANNE HOLMES & LILY LADEWIG, AUTHORS OF THE COLLABORATIVE CHAPBOOK I AM A NATURAL WONDER AND SCHEMERS OF THE I AM A NATURAL WONDER PROJECT



I AM A NATURAL WONDER

for Christy Crutchfield

I

A wonder is the name of what we pass across the table. My face is you tell me.
What there is: wonders collude with stub-noses, with reduction,
with meals in boxes. Nothing is shaped. Hard work pays. And pays.
We pay in our own names, so tell me mine. Wonders are trivial pursuits
like putting a flag on the moon. A table pretends that things exist between natures,
no, wonders are the bird overfeeding on soap and stool by accident. Some naturals include lazy
pitchers and suicidal mathematicians. There’s no design for a wondrous mouth.

II

Wonders are trivial pursuits like putting a flag on the moon.
My face is you tell me. My skin is like a comment box.
Wonder is natural because it comes and makes me
me. There’s no moon when there is plain. What there is:
wonders collude with stub-noses, with reduction, with
meals in boxes. We pay in our own names, so tell me
mine. A wonder is the name of what we pass across
the table. A table maybe tea lights maybe sunburns,
when really there is all this wondering.