Lisa Rogal
LISTENING TO MEN
Listening to men defend
rape online – my
phone changes
hurt to gut – I listen
to Ravel I never
listen to classical
now – it’s happening – heart
black – a lack
of balance I lose
my softness – my only pro
blem – protection – no it isn’t
true – I know what’s
true – that’s why
I suffer – I want to
protect you – I would
lay on a grenade – says a man
I want him
to live – not die – I don’t want anyone
to die for me
– my sins – I
don’t believe
in sin – my phone changes
sin to sun – sun to
sun god of all
evil makes us live –
to eat be death
a problem – needs reci
procation – propitiation
I don’t use big
words like propi
tiation – I have to look
up – I am just
this small land-dwelling creature
in my heart I fly – in my he
art I live – in a
tree leaf eat as a bug
does – still it kills
me to eat – knowing
life needs death to live –
the priestess drank the blood
the mother needed blood
to live – terrible
mother told her
children – go eat
each other – the mother
who bled & drops
of blood created all
creatures need
blood to live – women can give
it easy – that is
ritual – sacrifice – incorporate the dead
need of body – people eat
each other – rape is psychic death
sport – worship
guns & money – white
sun god – the death need gone
amuck among us – we need
someone who knows
how to kill – who to
kill & when – Terra – terri
ble news again – preschool murder
the men
elephants
without heads
SPUD INFINITY
The Eyes of the potato
Stare up at me
I was never meant to peel alone
None of these
Lonely
People are wrong
Alone with their
Eyes and Skin
The rays of the potato
Skin me
With their Vast
Indifference
It will grow and grow
Repeatedly &
The tiniest blade
Proves there is really
No Skin
If ever there was
It led us to each
Other & doesn’t keep
Us inside arrested & Ends
The moment You begin
The Spud goes onward
& Never collapses
Luckily
Lisa Rogal is a poet and teacher living in Brooklyn, NY. She is the author of la belle indifference (Cuneiform Press), Feed Me Weird Things (Ugly Duckling Presse), Morning Ritual (United Artists Books), and The New Realities (Third Floor Apartment Press). She co-edits Long News Poetry & Poetics.
