Big Government
I must admit—I’ve been a bad citizen.
I’ve kissed men in showers.
Cops on the parking beat know my
car by name. I skipped class
the day our teacher apparently wore
sandals, scratched his chin, told the class
Government is the legitimate use of force.
I’ve never understood how to use
my force legitimately, so I guess
that makes me a bad government, too.
On airplanes I bury my brother’s closed fist
while father sleeps besides us.
His mouth opens,
and he reveals his secrets
to the world. Somewhere in the deserts
of America, bodies are being found
with their mouths open, hearts
the size and color of pincushions.
Mom tells me they fished the boy’s body
from the interstate; the College refuses
to prosecute; the mountains
always behind, an old woman
raising her jagged skin to the sky.
Here, the State and the Ocean
play chess with our lives, the ritual
tug and pull of disasters,
a legless man speaking gospel
outside hotels, blood on the pavement
where a panicked hoof met spokes,
palmettos angled westward,
and dolphins rushing the new shoreline,
acquiring dead fish
under a pink sun.
On Returning
Somewhere in my flat city this morning
I am waking up before the junebugs come
I am taking a fork to three brown eggs
and beating them senseless
somewhere there is a man
down on his one good knee
(his one bad knee)
bent like a child’s question mark
arched towards the cathedral
somewhere a woman finds the center
of a street and squats pisses
right there
eyes towards the stars.
This cool cat in his natural habitat is named Timothy Housand. Raised in Greenwood and then Clemson, South Carolina, Tim is a transplant to the south who has since accepted it as his home. Tim is a sophomore at the College and a (declared) Political science and (proposed) German double major. He writes poetry and essays mostly, although sometimes a little prose comes out on accident. His hobbies include annoying his girlfriend, lounging, stretching, not exercising, being cool, reading, Hulu, shopping for polo shirts, sending pictures of his dog to strangers, cooking, and laughing.
2016-17 Managing Editor