Martyrdom and Artifice:

by Brandon Coffer

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                        pop! blue petals from the skin

soft snapshot                    portrait

                        showcase of hot collarbones

            Ma’am that button-down’s undone

            No that’s just California

 

Your line, Ginsberg                    side those sun

catchers                         such romance rot in-

                                      decision

Perhaps she’s got a head after all

 

Blunt world

arcs and the blue body I’m getting sick

            of worrying

            about missiles and long

poems that make me feel

 

stupid                    Bare-chested frolicking

authors

                        —there’s no corporate gold

in Cherry Valley—

 

carry on                    slow days Allen

an admirable bust the crowd is still

roaring

            O hard as you tried

                        I’m not picking up the book