Sonnet

posted Feb 14, 2007

Aaron Simon stops me on the corner
of 6th Avenue & 13th, he says
Socrates was evil. I have to get
on the train but he's right: duality
is a fantasy. His name can be
rearranged to spell out Asian Moron.
Everything's connected, sometimes I see
this everywhere, in the kitchen where the
counters & stove are spattered with orange drops.
If we didn't have eyes we could see.
On the train back to Brooklyn—understand
very little, re-read some sentences.
I see a hummingbird lead us to war.
I see the war dissolving like a pill.

*

Socrates was evil. I have to get
on the train back to Brooklyn. Understand
if we didn't have eyes we could see
everything's connected. Sometimes I see
very little, re-read some sentences.
Aaron Simon stops me on the corner
rearranged to spell out Asian Moron.
Of Sixth Ave. & 13th street, he says
I see a hummingbird lead us to war
is a fantasy. His name can be
on the train but he's right: duality
counters & the stove is spattered with orange dots.
This is everywhere, in the kitchen where the
war is dissolving like a pill.

 

Matthew Rohrer grew up in Oklahoma. He is the author of A Hummock in the Malookas, Satellite, A Green Light, and two collaborations with Joshua Beckman, Nice Hat. Thanks, and Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty. "Statistics of Deadly Quarrels" is from his forthcoming collection Rise Up.

Rohrer, Hummock
© W.W. Norton
Rohrer, Satellite
© Wave Books
Rohrer, A Green Light
© Wave Books