Amber Nelson
Everything Dissolves at a Certain Temperature
a huma hum
hello unnamed city that is a body
our bodies are locusts
the electrical surge is a locust
all things that plug in are locusts
swarming swarming swarming
let me say this godlessness
the summer covets us
darling, please
the cord stretches the doorway
again tangles near the bookcase
the refrigerator buzz & frost bite inside
my home is cyber & a dvd player straining
a beaded chain clinks against a lamp blade
Joe or not Joe
I'm in the market for a toaster 'cause this one ain't mine
my minted skin sticking
come to me on a jet plane, a window seat & read love poems
or watch the in-flight movie
I decided today that my body is a city
again I want yr body to live in my city
a blow drier confuses but I'm without
dust coats & dust jackets & now dust sweaters
I have refused many genitalia including the electrical
oh mama! see these many buzzing elements
please don't cage my energy efficient light bulbs
my love for you is not a coin operated washer/drier
we can walk the sidewalk
the cell phone on the table
the cell phone in my pocket
in yr pocket
lost among the couch cushions
an antenna guarded by blinds is still without reception
the cell phone is an excuse to touch
sunset
the snap & smoke
my brother at the conveyor
his blowtorch
everything dissolves at a certain temperature
some things come for the welding & others the unwelding
this whole room is synthetic—the bananas, my hair
it's wrong, I know, to miss you
today I'll have another factory
rotors & tendons
we'll assemble our lips together as the user manual dictates
seven different languages
our hip joints
my too hip everything
twenty-five discrete electrical sockets & still not enough
the flick of a bic
the tide or current
there are no user manuals actually
so kiss me you idiot
neither of us is a windswept traveler
instead I am a windfarm
you are the source of my power
love surges into every cabled capillary
vessels of caring in A negative
a tub of coke bottles
where might I find the recycling center?
explain the building of
explain the construction of
explain this one thing to me: combustion chamber
my father was a machinist & now drives trucks
each machine has a different roar or lever
my heart roars differently for each person I've loved
the sounding electrical
each person is a lever
my grandmother's pantry
her industrial freezer
blue popsicle levers
plum jam levers
fresh blueberry levers
the wheeze of so many cooling mechanisms
& the stovetop shudders in heat
all of this talk of babies & weddings & pollinating
I want to talk about plumbing
daisy petals & an empty stem
there should be something about Al Green
words are bodiless
I said I want to talk about plumbing!
& I want to say that I love you
the gears, each lonely stinking gear
even the trees have moving parts
the chainsaw levels: vroom vroom
& birds, there should be something about birds
steam whistles
I called you, well, nevermind
show me yr scars
my skin is budding with raw materials
the supermarket
the hardware store
the five & dime
what we can assemble with these purchases
you can't buy me, love
make me
also there should be something about flying machines
this modern day
& wings, how you made wings
we weren't born this way
the lamp is dim but naturally
oh sugar, come onto
the makings of a storm
that's supposedly how it begins
no really, that's how it begins
with lightning