Reuben Gelley Newman

Augur, augur, churning sight,
In the morass of the blight;
What internal sand or sea
Could game thy seerful synergy?

In what extant sleeps or sighs
Learnt the choir of thine cries?
On what fling blares queer attire?
What demand, flare please inquire?

And what boulder, and what thwart,
Could grist the amuse of thy start?
And when thy start be glad to meet.
What red land? & what red cleat?

What the stammer? what the stain,
In what earnest was thy gain?
What the bevel? what sled grasp.
Bare its steady errors rasp.

When the scars—strewn gowns—spare ears
Unbuttered leavened wish—rare queers:
Did he rile his words to flee?
Did he who splayed enjambed play thee?

Author, author spurning right
In this pumiced fluff of light:
What eternal land or sky,
Err—name thy earful liturgy!

Lo butch demands
undrawn

a plaid teal
sparrow

dazed inane
poppers

be kind to nice
faggots

Reuben Gelley Newman (he/him) is a writer, musician, and library worker based in New York City. His debut chapbook, Feedback Harmonies, is out from Seven Kitchens Press. His poems are available or forthcoming in petrichor, Ninth Letter, The Fairy Tale Review, The Journal, Northwest Review, Alien Magazine, and elsewhere. A Co-Editor for Couplet Poetry, he’s on Instagram and Twitter @joustingsnail.