W. M. Lobko
Ecce Homo
The body
is with the king
but the king is
not with the body,
a playful knot
scholars’ logic
only tugs
tighter.
When the king
slaps the prince
he rejoins
with a joke,
some laughter,
but not of the gut.
We can’t be
sure where
the camera’s
spiraling in ends,
its palatial visual
tragico-comical
golden ratio.
I’m not done
with this body,
its doubling
somehow in its cells
all it senses.
I want to know how
everybody dies.
Me too. Am I unwise
to lower my defenses?
Soon the fool
will clear the grave
of skulls like a dog―
this other skull
needs hiding.
It feels funny,
but not ha-ha funny―
weird, I guess,
a new wavelet
in the blood,
a hiccup in the tide
when I heard that
we don’t orbit the sun,
but that both bodies
ply around some
intervening emptiness.
W. M. Lobko’s poems, reviews, & interviews have appeared in journals such as Kenyon Review, The Paris-American, Boston Review, Spinning Jenny, & Guernica. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, & was a semi-finalist for the 92Y / Boston Review "Discovery" Prize. He studied at the University of Oregon & currently teaches in the New York City area.
Return to March 2018 Edition
The body
is with the king
but the king is
not with the body,
a playful knot
scholars’ logic
only tugs
tighter.
When the king
slaps the prince
he rejoins
with a joke,
some laughter,
but not of the gut.
We can’t be
sure where
the camera’s
spiraling in ends,
its palatial visual
tragico-comical
golden ratio.
I’m not done
with this body,
its doubling
somehow in its cells
all it senses.
I want to know how
everybody dies.
Me too. Am I unwise
to lower my defenses?
Soon the fool
will clear the grave
of skulls like a dog―
this other skull
needs hiding.
It feels funny,
but not ha-ha funny―
weird, I guess,
a new wavelet
in the blood,
a hiccup in the tide
when I heard that
we don’t orbit the sun,
but that both bodies
ply around some
intervening emptiness.
W. M. Lobko’s poems, reviews, & interviews have appeared in journals such as Kenyon Review, The Paris-American, Boston Review, Spinning Jenny, & Guernica. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, & was a semi-finalist for the 92Y / Boston Review "Discovery" Prize. He studied at the University of Oregon & currently teaches in the New York City area.
Return to March 2018 Edition