3 Poems
by Ren Powell
Losing My Religion
I joined the flat earth society
and at the first meeting they fed
me pancakes and sliced pepperoni
they asked me if I wanted to remain anonymous
if I wanted to lie on my back and make angels
in the corn fields
then we held pennies between our flat palms
we felt the cool of metal
we felt the dome of space
between the flat copper coin and palm
fill with the inexpressible
* * *
Bus Number 642 is Given a Disposable Camera
My
eyes are in my stomach
and that explains this unintentional intrusion
of self portrait
it’s just a consequence
of the way I’ve been put together
you
see
how a product of modern society
is driven by bulimic obsession
this cycle of standing room only
empty seats
never precisely capacity
never precisely stopping
just
pausing long enough
to exhale
to let down
for the hope of token fairs
of finding that cold balance of design
to lubricate the warm stomach lining
the ulcer of this city
this mutual foster care
* * *
Sight Seeing
monks
in sneakers took the steps
four at a time while balancing teacups
on their noses and outstretched palms
and
I remember you said
I wish I had a camera
and you framed them
with
your fingers and thumbs
tilted your head to the side
squinting and you clicked your tongue
will
you remember this
you asked
* * *
Ren Powell is the editor of Babel Fruit online journal, and the administrator of the protestpoems.org project. Her publishing credits include nine books of translations and two books of poetry. Her poems have been translated and published in Norwegian, French, Basque, Spanish and Croatian. Ren is currently pursuing a doctorate in Creative Writing at Lancaster University in England.