Choke Poetics

Now soliciting: “choke” poetry from all corners, from Oakland to Boston to Chicago to Minnesota and anywhere victory inexplicably slips away. Send it here and I’ll post it. Look for the anthology at a concession stand near you in April.

Here’s a contribution from Taylor Brady:

CHOKING IN OAKLAND (for Terence Long)

How do you not swing?

An almost perfect bond

unites the man with thousands

circling him. He joins them

watching him as on a screen

he watches life seep from

things watched. A watch

is not a clock. It holds

the wrist stiff, outside

the time in which a flick

or stroke would come in time.

The pigeon in the field knows

your eye is there. Doesn‚t care.