Aught No. 13 (2004) - Steinberg, Nine short poems

Aught, no. 13 (2004)

Hugh Steinberg

Nine Short Poems

defined, with a
    mouth packed with
            salt. will, nothing
       but will, accountants
of will, social relations,
        working groups, odd
powers.

            like or like, the
nothing of state; I lean, can
                   decide. thread.
     So, towns, the stone thread in
             the stone shirt.

pale grease. no more dates.
the right to
undergo trials.

don’t know, some
     looping. each voter
unburdening ice sheets
            from their
  angriest and most secret
               cells.

sorry is for
specialists, especially
if you don’t
mean it.

like
catharsis:
pithy words,
like
snarls and pieces.

not falling.
you say threw you
throw you.
stick of you...
an arm or two.

then purities. as when
to introduce joy when
          there is so little
justification for doing so. I
               wasn’t born I
      got carried
along with the others.

as a man, to
have been a
white dress
every so, so
unwave-
ring