ruth baumanN

unhelpable

To find you I had to navigate
the seas of terror Or the seas

          of nothing completed Listen
is such an odd imperative What

          about look Look The days
are life-sized I’m not

          afraid I can hold fire A leafhopper
gave me permission

          Silver moss on all the trees
Neverending it coos Nearby a gallows

          sings Everybody loves We end
up in my bed We start

love poem with a line from frank stanford

I’m not talking about bees
they shit honey But Frank

          Musicality is visceral But Frank
Light doesn’t have a mind

          It has muscles But Frank
I met a man He talks

          the whole way into
me The safe word

          is corona I offer Offer Such
a great verb It makes space

Ruth Baumann is the author of Parse, forthcoming in 2018 from Black Lawrence Press. She is also the author of four chapbooks: A Thousand Ars Poeticas (Sixth Finch, 2018), Retribution Binary (Black Lawrence Press, 2017), wildcold (Slash Pines Press, 2016) & I’ll Love You Forever & Other Temporary Valentines (Salt Hill, 2015). Her poems have been published in Colorado Review, Sonora Review, Sycamore Review, The Journal, Third Coast & others. She received an AWP Intro Journals Project Award in 2014. She holds an MFA from the University of Memphis & is pursuing her PhD at Florida State University.