Joeseph Harms
Joseph Harms was a finalist for the National Poetry Series Award for Bel (Expat Press, 2017), as well as a finalist for the Sexton Prize for Poetry for Goety (The Black Spring Press Group, forthcoming). He is the author of the poetry collection Nous (IFSF Publishing, 2021) and the novels Ades, Baal, Cant and Wyrd, which have been collected in Evil: Novels 2007-2018 (Expat Press, forthcoming). Harms’ work has appeared in numerous literary journals, including Boulevard, The Alaska Quarterly Review, The North American Review, The International Poetry Review, Crazyhorse, The Opiate and Bayou Magazine. He holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of Michigan Helen Zell Writers’ Program.
The Skull of the Sun
Lazulite hiemal sunrise whelmed by its bia’d whelpof orogenic scowles amazed. One cannot change onesownsparkplugs these misfiredpiston days pibloktoed pestledextant under this volcano dormant as I live and breathehymenally. Vassal to a passel of unselfed hours—I can’t quit now. The broken vessels tzimtzum anywayif ouroboric. Trust the daemon knows. Trust an utterlack of response discursive decussate or strait. Trustwhat is aeruginous or can become so autogamous,autotelic—genus of snowdjinns fey by verdigris. Sainwhat’s said effaced or etched. Durant the durangite eoanglimpse by vesper’s overcast. Come to quietly composeddiscalced and filthed beside a dead dog in the ravineand walk—no matter how halt how long—to the nearest airport’srunway to try again the grandfinale.
Anadem
These apatetic august eves in which the sun is anademedbefore inurning an interictal lustrum of hodologyAugust to August through asublimity. One can’t helpbut anaglyph the cyclorama. Bathetic kenosis.Inveterate misotheist. I apricate all that’s doneaffectlessly and palinops moon on moon—the way throughis out—and autoscop through august eves. Utter acceptance.So long as trunneled I can get from A to B, prefermy skies sectiled by a myriad of witchy fingers.Pragmatophobia. Tonight the rabbit approachespretending to eat never to drink, swardplanted mirrors avoided.