intimate abstract bound in bedsprings
by Glenn Ingersoll
A few birthdays ago, the absence was complete.
The years crept in, gravid.
When you are done winding it in, wind rattles the skin.
I pulled from a purse the pearl-handled shadow.
I need the lipstick, my lips so loose.
You can slip this face off under stars.
The lemon scent of the war paint, the honeysuckle.
My flowers’ blades cut fragrant curves.
No water, please.
Ten thousand scales today, gone again.
They weigh heavy on my blue coals.
What drags me under cool lamps?
action is everything that questions seek
Let’s make something of your disease!
The chains taste sweet, like toasted apple.
I smell regrets the wind will never stir.
Jail is a perfectly natural automatic clock.
The east used to be to the left.
Find it at the end of the passage to the left.
One door remained in an extra orientation.
Ridges are to be expected, gathered as clouds.
The rope bridge groans under eight elephants.
Rain trails the mountain’s sheerer face.
The latter number was a younger number.
A dramatic entrance was omitted, then moved further in.
About the Author:
Glenn Ingersoll works for the public library in Berkeley, California where, until the Covid-19 shutdown, he hosted Clearly Meant, a reading & interview series. His first book, the multi-volume prose poem epic Thousand (Mel C Thompson Publishing), came out in 2019. He keeps two blogs, LoveSettlement and Dare I Read. Recent work has appeared in The Collidescope, Sheila-Na-Gig, and bottle rockets.
About All Accounts:
All Accounts and Mixture is an annual online feature celebrating the work of LGBTQIA+ writers and artists. For this series, we seek work from authors who self-identify as "queer," while acknowledging that this designation is subjective and highly personal. Our goal is to provide a forum for writers whose voices might be mis- or underrepresented by the literary mainstream. Submissions are open from June 1 to July 1. Poetry, prose, visual art, reviews and interviews will all be considered. Visit Submittable for more details.