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“about that blood” & “here comes” by Kyla Houbolt




about that blood

but it does not

make me think, it only

repeats cleverly all the things.

felt slippers. ugly but warm.

so much of value like that,

no shelf appeal, but hey,

does the job. make of it

what you can. all right I say

here. this is what I make

of our life together on this

-- and now the selection

of cliches rolls out in my

inner eye: this rock, this

lonely planet, this tiny ball

in deep space, this hell.

I go deep into the soil of it

warming among roots who

are my friends. yes we have

lost much, they say, but

not all. not all. that would be

impossible.

(Written after reading about

climate activists throwing tomato

soup on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers.)




here comes

massaging my melancholy with

piano music, red berries, oats.

the sharp stony peaks soften

under moss imperceptibly.

oh water oh rain, do what you're

known for. any kitchen needs

a recipe for a distinguished

dark fruit cake. it says. my

kitchen comes up wanting,

no such recipe to be found.

how loud the street sweeper,

the leaf blower, after the rain.

sweet singing in the choir.




Kyla Houbolt's first two chapbooks, Dawn's Fool (Ice Floe Press) and Tuned (CCCP Chapbooks), were published in 2020. Tuned is also available as an ebook. Her work has appeared in Neologism, Barren, Juke Joint, Moist, Trouvaille Review, Janus, and elsewhere. Find her work at her linktree: https://linktr.ee/luaz_poet. She is on Twitter @luaz_poet.

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