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Ben Roylance

I trade suitcase for drone / next time arrange for a cab


from Love Poetry for Body and Rothko

A Taco Bell Rothko
a darkening Rothko
smell caught in my t-shirt
she wakes up in the thunder
his luck is currency
it didn’t make lines in time
harmonies collect between us
a requested haunting

Our network of maybes
I’m still searching
the percentage doubles
nanometers between lips
the fan’s blades lengthen
staying in one room
you smile into a shadow
rain fell last night and asleep

Dirt under my nails tightens
liberties get given away
energy collects under my neck
he tips the waitress extra
dormitories arranged
devil in the Pentagon
horticulture yields normalcy
farmed her family

I’m enlisting in the pocket war
nobility is contemptible
she wants a naked struggle
I meet the old wizard at home
Nickelodeon sells custom ham
do you want my body
the entrance ramp
neatly stroked hairs entwining

It’s my level one problem
I trade suitcase for drone
next time arrange for a cab
legibility is nonsense
her blonde hair is rattling
let’s live forever
drink up
I Will Always Love You

Quitting existing
we’re a quiet breed
Panera Bread is selling rope
five cows decide everything
Nostradamus heard about it earlier
can we shave this light
this is a bullet
this is composing itself inside

My girlfriend is in autumn
heavy soft voice shakes
rang there for minutes
leftover from the rainy morning
eyes closed in a hammock
Starbucks is owned by Rothko and a camgirl
tufts of hair glued to the birthday gift
hug me close Margaret

Crank the volume past breaking
drink the liquid wood
hands hold night
days keep still
nor I said the drone
raking healthy leaves from branches
the spiders are declassified
dating the champion sleep walker

What a wall keeps out
crossbred with love
porcelain blankets
the air is pumping
she knows the way to an inward hill
it’s a cozy straight line
Judge Jupiter on the Ferris Wheel
that was the best summer ever

My gut inhales fire
no kissing on the sand
rub Coca-Cola into burns
hand developed thoughts
my friends insist
happiness is a plane away
when we remind you of hatred
this thought is a lovely parasite

15

My law pelt around your little shoulders
the Army base is greasy
I’ll see you at the end
keep off the pavement
it’s not funny
my body is change
yet with all heart and heat
seeing colors unneeded

It makes me think you’re sick
World Trade Center Arby’s location
kept it in a flow
he wrapped it in newspaper and ash
your voice bubbles up and out
take me out of the basement now
detuned the man and woman
so wet in the snow globe

Nothing head
happenstance and ego trim
who are you
I gripped the clothing
hope wafts in from out
he sees Rothko in the villa
you stand nude up in arms
I lost it to commercials

This is changing
I would kiss you in line
it was always habit
feel holy in a plastic church
at the end of the road
I see a man like Jandek
I’m sprawl
it heals an extremist

I feel along the wall
upstairs in the girl
great mope along
this could be for anyone
snow melts I thought too
no love left
Four Seasons on fire
I love this hanging color

Man nears three millionth
polish their eyes
you know me Margaret
my messages come in hazy
sign out like nothing ever was
no Lake Rothko
the sun stems into the room
hold my hand like it melts

Warnings did not reach people
Nordic man knows what I mean
home crams us into it
waves of poems
I respond weekly harrowing
meaning notes our meaning
so lofty taken away eating in
tears form after dark

Sorry I’m really gone
praying for hypertext
all I am is soundtracked
don’t cry during the break
frowning at Pizza Hut
our voyage ends up for you
Minnesota singer
hanging out with seeds and Christ

We left Texas concerning you
nocturnal snooping in pine heart
Mark has brow lines
send me a hanging text Amy
nests in the redwood dark heart
the grad students party softly
the night gave you birth
gods took friends to Boston Market

You have my smoke
fast forward to the night
night seems full and fat
five news stories inspire
his voice resonates wrong
love is like an album
just focus alone on it
is this a good sign


Ben Roylance splits his time between two valleys, Pioneer and Lehigh. He knows something that you don't know about extraterrestrials. He unconsciously manifests mineral deposits in California for you to find and bring to him.