Poet: Adam Robinson, Baltimore, MD
Smalldoggies Poetry Feature #5: Adam Robinson, Baltimore, MD
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OCEANOGRAFFITI
Let's make the ocean quiet. Or oh all
life smells of rush. How about we stay
in tonight and figure out nobility? Probably
there is somewhere where we were
meant to be, but we discovered cars.
Invented, I mean. We were halfway to
anti-matter when it all combusted. So
now the best we can muster is
a fumbling for touch, and I reach
with my hand and you are there,
your hand, face, temperature, and
hey, that is better. I’ll take that.
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CARTOGRAPH
When he is serious his face gets bigger
And when he tells facts her face gets bigger
Doing geology maps his face all the same
But she gets wide eyes and hinges her jaw
On the ageless ground she says "Wait
did you say 'BILLIONS'? I mean 'BILLIONS'?"
"Oh yes," he says his face gets bigger "It's
quite a discovery—our very past and future"
Then his face shrivels her face shrivels the faces
Of their babies' babies' babies' babies encrust
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AILUNTHUS TREE
A country pastor
in his rose garden
pauses.
God is good.
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THE WORLD GIVES UP
One man is standing on a crowded sidewalk
It's Manhattan at lunch Times Square
You know those scenes in those movies
when 122 people are crossing the street
Like that is what I'm describing for you
But—wait—this man is stopped there
One ought to adjust one’s gaze to the horizon
Two men are stopping now on different corners
B— wears a suit A— has a slick backpack
But it's the standing unmoving that is unusual
Now a woman stops walking to stand where she is
Of a sudden another woman then another man
In a small town in Arizona a person stands immobile
The conclusion is something but what is it
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TRAPDOOR
They keep the microwave
below the counter,
behind a stained curtain,
set upon an empty
milk crate.
Its cord stretches
through a drilled hole
to a power strip
beside the fridge.
The clock, it is all wrong.
The numberpad is gooey.
They didn’t want to use it.
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Adam Robinson lives in Baltimore, MD, where he runs Publishing Genius. His first collection, Adam Robison and Other Poems was released by Narrow House Books in 2010 and he self published a second collection, Say, Poem in May. He holds an MFA in creative writing and publishing arts from the University of Baltimore, and he plays guitar in Sweatpants, a rock band.
Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for an in-depth interview with Adam Robinson, for Smalldoggies Magazine.
He currently lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
Find out more about Adam Robinson at the Publishing Genius blog.