Poet Republik-James Reich
Read more: Poet Republik-James ReichGhosts of Possible Machines
From dorsal sand a pinball table projects
The bearing of a madhouse w/ tilting neon bedsprings
Bumping at the slack surf beneath the blackening pier
From savage coal a cage-lift cable breaks
The comrades from the King’s Arms to scabbed promenade
Brawling in barrel-chested alleys between soot-crested sleep
From Spanish beach a bomber tailfin breaches
The homing of the pigeons w/ glowing hydrogen chutes
Bringing the feathered boys from fishing in dead weather
From LCD a coltan city promises
The children chipping at the dirty walls of wellbeing
Becoming as clean as the ghosts of possible machines
From Orwell’s hand a shovel handle strikes
The allotment of the common earth w/ wormy blessed plots
Balloting for the best men but wedded to the worst of them.
James Reich is the author a new collection of poetry The Holly King published in a numbered, signed edition by Stalking Horse Press (Oct. 2022). He has published five critically acclaimed novels, most recently the science fiction novel The Song My Enemies Sing (Anti-Oedipus Press, 2018). His sixth novel, The Moth for the Star is forthcoming from 7.13 Books (2023) and his psychoanalytic monograph Wilhelm Reich versus the Flying Saucers is forthcoming from Punctum Books. He writes a bi-weekly Substack column on the subject of the environment and the unconscious called The Ecological Uncanny. James was born in England and lives, writes, and teaches in Santa Fe, NM.
Poem used with permission.
