It’s Not Like I’m Saying I Understand Everything by David Kaufman


Neuropharmacology is a nightmare
I’m trying to wake up
From. Extract the acorn
From the glacier, it
Becomes a memory nugget
From the Best of the Sixties

Box set, say “Strychnine”
By the Sonics or The Turtles’
“Outside Chances.” Either
One will do. Philosophy’s
Made from such examples,
The qualia of my unspeakable

Loves are merely one. How
I would like to light your fire, how
I wish it were so. But this is not
For you, it’s not for me,
The leafy extremities of the heat
Remind you of resolutions,

Random collectibles, this time
Out of pocket, these pennies
Out of mind. I am short
On all this this and still I’m enjoined to wait. Yes,
I have little to fall back on. No,
I was only hired for my looks.

 

David Kaufmann teaches literature at George Mason University. His poetry has appeared in a number of places, most recently in GLITTER PONY and DRUNKEN BOAT.