after Henry David Thoreau
Just enough so you know what it is
thing, not so much concerning the
as you who read these
in New England; something
your outward condition or
this town, what it is, whether
it is, whether it cannot be
a rail, others
when they run
supernumerary sleep
up, they suddenly
about it, as if this
takes a gang
down and
that falls on
gently and
company go,
termined to make
and go with the
whelmed in that
situated in
and you are safe
unrelaxed nerve
another way,
whistles, let it
rings, why
music they
their
and solemn
lost its flavor, and
and sweet in-
memory of the past
and distension. The
which
them across
heavy as lead, they
hot fire; nay, I though
as if the pitch
longer as in a lamp
in his account
encroach
I.
sticking it. idolatry or—
egoistic. Ink grisaille
at fault. Rejecting
the convention—
at least, it’s supposed to be—
you’re trying to get me crazy—
park right there + flower—
he’s singing, mark, mark,
red sag, mark, sensation
small, mark, newspaper stare,
advised detail, the fact
that cool I like so that is,
have you heard before you
came have you heard?
II.
help I get back
I get, it, with that
in mind, with, that,
what about scansion,
what, that, where,
yes, this urge, la fille
universelle, weigh
the ocean, the subject
focus—so that’s why
the British have smaller…
and the French have bigger…
I just learned that, under,
enough, it’s behind, glass,
see, there, that’s so…
analyze the fragment,
which way, I was just
admiring, mister,
you foretold, this is Venus,
she was, the mighty foal,
eagle, verse hop, depicted,
dead, prostitutes, so anytime
they would disappear
it’s always risk
III.
that’s creepy all that snatch,
right, right, yes, tell me
what you want from…
single care, fraction of,
looks important, nigh for lot
energy crush so Teppich—
another one Boucher falls
over, still I like to see how
so she wipes, oh, I don’t mean
to choose cherubs why I couldn’t
chatter most, could it I told you
I don’t know
IV.
mull I not fi—
ya—meekly want—
[~ … ! ~ … ~ * ! ~]
why is it mixed in?
where is sight?
this is European,
hundred, but what,
makes it take?
how haul got to “!”
the last time, I was,
voyeuristic, of then
classical arts, often panic,
the grave relation you fear
objects Ophelia—can you
routine, you’re being-story—
painted this sting like catnip
to being patient so much
oh I will stay there that’s the one
you’ll steal when you’re from fill
the catty can how do I see?
I feel like it’s too far.
I feel like it’s too far.
No, it’s not far.
Not for a second.
You go upstairs, walk.
Susan.
I go all the way up.
Step. All the way.
Train up, no more lie,
it stop. Stop.
Susan.
But she’s going
through the windows,
Susan.
But I have the key
my mild.
Too much.
Too good time.
Silken absolute
that’s how the master
spits. Keeping.
Stay there.
You’ll be happy?
Oh, hopper. I don’t
have a card
roll in ten.
Oh, goodness.
Too much problem.
Can you draw? I draw.
Is that what you, is that up?
Susan.
Now, just show me.
What’s stopping us
from nothing wrong?
She made good potato salad.
Composer Hannah Cai Sobel set the texts of “Woman with a Parrot” and “The Progress of Love,” along with eight other painting-poems by Massey, to music. Ekphrastic, for SATB quartet, premiered at Alchemical Studios in New York City on April 5, 2024.
Timestamps: “Woman with a Parrot,” 0:00-6:26; “The Progress of Love,” 23:45-27:30).
Joshua Massey is a writer and doctoral candidate at Bard Graduate Center in New York City, where they study American material culture. Someday, they aspire to own two cats and read all the books on their bookshelves. Their poems appear in Defunct Magazine, Alien Magazine, and petrichor.
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