MODERNITY
 
Inevitably bats gather in daylight
 
A cornucopia of bats / a heliopause of bats
 
Love was never simple so there are wars
 
But how impossible the task of target
 
A girl scrubs her wrists like a chalkboard
 
She knows no images will clear but
 
It’s best to try anyway

 
 
 

SWEET SEPTEMBER
 
I stood inside my head until evicted
 
O Autumn with vertigo O Autumn underfoot
 
eating feet commanding Stay here
 
until red bellies turn yellow There
 
is a type of breathing that whispers
 
humans are interchangeable O Autumn
 
with a chorus O Autumn twirling
 
new voices from my throat The inner workings
 
are remarkable They spare nobody

 
 
 

POST-APOCALYPTIC BLISS
 
In Florida porches drenched
 
with frogs & katydids Of course
 
green knows its turn Time ticks
 
into a chandelier I’ve always loved
 
to break glass Come on I do love
 
Say no more sunset I prefer fog
 
I need weather that fits in my fist

 
 
—-
 
 

Ruth Baumann is a PhD student at Florida State University & holds an MFA from the University of Memphis. Her first chapbook, I’ll Love You Forever & Other Temporary Valentines, won the Salt Hill Dead Lake Chapbook Contest. Two other chapbooks are forthcoming: wildcold, from Slash Pines Press, & Retribution Binary, winner of the Black Lawrence Black River Chapbook Contest. Her website is www.ruthbaumann.com.