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A large, unwieldy feeling of complicity
A Story
The rent was due; money was aware of you, and all the time
you’re being listened to. He said he had no room. “This isn’t
merely land; it is also income.” Open any door & regardless you
get chained to the earth. To the steady march of bills. To stolen
courage, hidden garbage, such as valid or “allowable” kills.
The water crawled inside the lumpy chair. The little sinks became
dimly aware. War, and the present owner had to repair. Property,
it has been a hard fight. You are property he cannot find. A vacancy
opening behind his eyes, an un-land. Cut to gables on the third floor.
Him, one carnivore; you, a great gun heavy in your hand. The world
one commonwealth upheld by our mercy that is long, quiet.
Accessible PDF versions of the poems and collages can be found here.
“A large, unwieldy feeling of complicity”: Lines found spanning the gap between columns of print in BOMB, Issue 170.
“A Story”: Lines found spanning the gap between columns of print in “A White Slumlord Confesses” by Barding Dahl Esquire Magazine (July 1966).
Tyler Barton is the author of Eternal Night at the Nature Museum and The Quiet Part Loud. Find his poems in FENCE, DIAGRAM, Adroit Journal, and elsewhere. He is a cofounder of Fear No Lit and the artist director for Writers & Books in Rochester NY. Find him at @tylerbartonlol.