Only Your Good Boy Violence

By Nathaniel Rosenthalis

1

                                                            It was like


palm trees in a line
                              outside the building

I catch my sight
                              by: I get it

and it goes. Girl
                              overtakes me

in her leopard coat.
                              Angora guy

sweeps up his zone.
                              A river

slides behind
                              the palms, and the sound.

I tune it all out
                              too, each getting

a rush in. I get
                              the feeling grows.



2

                                                            I take

my pill daily,
                              and the days go by

a curb. I leave
                              to cross,

now, to turn
                              the one-way.

Not memory:
                              I wear the jacket

new, hand-painted
                              blue. All over

it was like:
                              always meet

your next in fuss
                              -free pomade.

Few wear gloves
                              in warm winter.

3

                                                            He swayed

as if he had me
                              with his traps.

It was just down
                              to his face.

When I inhaled
                              the air of him

I felt as if
                              I’d only know.

He was sweet
                              when he talked.

His mouth closed up.
                              Orange pullover

and a cling job.
                              I came away,

not even changed
                              by the ripeness of his lips.

4

                                                            In that office

I saw a plant 
                              so green it was like:

I insist. Being
                              nowhere else

became its own
                              effect. I lacked

a window,
                              so couldn’t

let in a wind,
                              couldn’t upgrade


the moment to
                              its movement as

I would have it:
                              my body, proven;

the plant, hanging
                              up and


5


                                                            shaken.

It was like snow,
                              unexpected.

Temporary
                              yes, but there

I go, into it.
                              There are beams

between buildings
                              so that support

is some bird
                              upon them.

Parallel
                              facility:

I’m to say who.
                              And don’t.

As if the good
                              it does to be good


6


                                                            for me now

won’t fall apart.
                              I see a bench

on and on.
                              Puffy boys

will motion to
                              the dirty birds

it was like
                              resistance

to notice, so
                              I did. And do,

differentiating:
                              the faster

you go, the lighter
                              it feels, car-wise,

like memory.
                              Because it was.

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