r o b e r t o    m o n t e s

IN THE TOWER OF OBSTINATE FEELING

How many ghosts go hungry each day

Filled with the likeness of being

No reason for borrowed blood

The white lily fried in my mouth

Tired of pretending

To love anything that won't kill me

Riotously

The only reasonable course

Was the kind that left you

Shaken in a Crate & Barrel

Not rich

Not RICH rich

A bidet a belonging

A worm in the heart

This guy gets it

And everyone

Dog-eared in the grave

To be returned to

When the story catches up

Narcotically suggested

Full bore

With an open shirt

A cut without a name

A wound for the well-wishers

The pattern reveals itself

To those who don't

A home remedy

Not a remedy for home

next

Roberto Montes is the author of I DON'T KNOW DO YOU (Ampersand Books, 2014), named one of the Best Books of 2014 by NPR and a finalist for the 2014 Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry from The Publishing Triangle, as well as "How to Be Sincere in Your Poetry" Workshop, an electronic chapbook published at NAPuniversityonline.com. A new chapbook, GRIEVANCES, is forthcoming from the Atlas Review TAR chapbook series.

in issue twenty-one

a l i c e   b l u e   t w e n t y - s e v e n

I S S N     1 5 5 9 - 6 5 6 7