Non-Destinations
Sequence Introduction
Each of these pieces began as a prose poem. In an attempt to work toward longer lines, they were drafted prizing the unit of the sentence over the line. From here, they were revised as blocks of text before line breaks were added. This process allowed me to pay different attention to rhythm. Long lines feel unnatural to me, so these pieces act as poetic calisthenics to break free of some habits.
Thematically, these pieces wrestle with different types of domesticity. In some cases this is set against the exotic, but only in terms of what the average grocery store can offer: edible creatures from the deep, the fruits of faraway lands. Everything is on offer, but still there is immense longing. This is America. A version of America, at least.
This series is set in Bakersfield, one of California’s many non-destinations. Roughly one hundred miles north of Los Angeles and at the very bottom of the Golden State’s agricultural fields, the setting itself is a gateway. Here, Sexy is found considering the world in a car, in the greeting cards aisle, in the ophthalmologist’s waiting room—usually in a confined space connected to another confined space. His reality is not unlike a sequence of poems. Our hero is a wild man in the labyrinth and the dangers are real. They are the kind of dangers that keep people from love, the kind that reason with suicide. 
Non-Destinations
Caught in a Conundrum of What He Knows about Food, Sexy Questions His Nerves
Sexy Speaks to the Conductor