Not burning, but aflame
Gabrielle Bates
If I describe something, anything, long enough,
language will lead me back to wanting it.

Gabrielle Bates
There is more to say, but my speaking
is done with me.

Gabrielle Bates
Over and over, unevolving
Gabrielle Bates
Complete focus can resemble utter distraction
Gabrielle Bates
How can you go toward what you’re avoiding?
Gabrielle Bates
Time and place are traps.
Gabrielle Bates
What language did the angel speak
       My most private language

Was the angel fluent
       Nuances were lost

- Gabrielle Bates, “Conversation with Mary,” Judas Goat (Tin House, 2023), excerto.
Os jornalistas estavam anotando suas respostas. Havia agora em seus rostos a expressão de um autômato que faz de conta que está ouvindo uma notícia nos pronunciamentos vazios feitos por outro autômato.

- Ayn Rand, A revolta de Atlas
Oh look,
a typo

in the
Rosetta Stone.

Justin Chin
Does invincibility have more to do with persistence rather than the
possession of superhuman traits or is it dumb luck

Like telling an ant it is a lion, but an antlion is something else altogether

Justin Chin
A thousand and one
monkeys pounding
away at one thousand
and one iMacs.

Oh no,
this morning
one monkey
called in sick.

Justin Chin
In my early life, my need to belong
and my need for security made me accept
such stupid and lethal conditions.
            In my later life, I should have known
better but the stupid and lethal stuff
was always the most fun.

Justin Chin
In times of crisis, we must all decide again and again whom we love.
- Frank O’Hara
So I hear
you do weddings
                    now

- Justin Chin