Ryan Collins
Too many new Americans speak in reassuring
tones & say not a word to be believed
at this late hour in the maw of end-stage
capital. A jingle jangle thesis is as useful
a currency as any to bang a gong to
or keep the lights on. W/ any luck, after
great pain, the pain & our feeling form
into a useable shape—a wooden spoon,
a French drain, a length of rope, breakfast.
A song. But there’s no luck, no vehicle
fit for arguing some fleeting dialectic
b/t what’s possible & necessary,
the double-feature horror show of what is—
no more getting mad at a bird for flying.
Ryan Collins is the author of A New American Field Guide & Song Book and several chapbooks. His work has appeared in Apartment, The Biscuit Hill, Coma, The Mixtape Review, Ninth Letter, Past Ten, Sink Review, swamp pink, and many other places. He hosts the SPECTRA Reading Series in Rock Island, IL, where he lives.
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