|
|
Tony Tost is the author of Complex Sleep (Iowa 2007), World Jelly (Effing 2005) and Invisible Bride (LSU 2004). He is currently writing a book on Johnny Cash's first American Recordings album for Continuum's 33 1/3 series of books on classic record albums, and is also completing a new poetry manuscript called Consequence. Poems and prose have recently appeared in Hambone, Open Letter, Mandorla, Talisman, American Literature, Colorado Review and Effing Magazine, and are forthcoming in Cannibal, Ping Pong and The Yale Anthology of Younger Poets. He lives with Leigh and Simon in Durham, NC, where he is a doctoral candidate in the Department of English at Duke University.
Purchase his books here, and check out his blog, tony tost's america, where you can listen to podcast episodes of tony's very own america.
|
 |
Beast under Breath What What What
from Orpheus' Needle All we have left to do (originally published in Colorado Review)
Ratios of Paradise A fear look at it but you can only see it A brand a ghost that burns for centuries at a time Vision has no dimension and thereby embraces all dimensions The ability grazing the underground A healing a healer is not in direct contact with his or her actions A healing cannot be explained by morality Communications meaning is dictated before the speaking begins An instrument every emotion is measured A fear bearing children with monstrous needs A point in space one sees one’s theories lying in state Apparitions authority in circulation A system evolves a figure as the interpretation of lines A feeling immobilization, interference, an infinite adaptation A fear hearing one’s voice coming back over the phone Voices and sounds captured and recorded on magnetic tape, from the beyond A technique forgiving the dead An innovation the washing away of techniques A ghost immobilized by driving a nail into the ground An answer vengeance for instruction or murder Percussive sounds tapping an intelligible message beneath the spoken word A duplicate one's own body An impression there is a dull familiarity always upon waking A parasitic entity instructors feeding upon emotional remains Traditional activity stopping a fire by the throwing of stones A circle protection is drawn Comfort all the circles emerge An act the sinister forms A fear being infested with desire An appearance a blanket of light A voice a trumpet used specifically for the purposes of speech A physical object will materialize its own will The seeing a face in every object Coffins where powerful forces scatter A fear the equations are fixed A becoming cleansing and protecting one’s mistakes Mirrors draw out the souls of the living A mirror a ghost or desire is drawn to the light The mouth a circle at the end of a ritual A face bright beneath the yoke of time Harmony the words rush back into the mouth An answer dowsing rods, pendulums, throwing the bones An ability broadcasting a particular emotion to other people An ability resembling fire A flat surface the spirit invents its own tools A statement a structure for devotion A feeling scares forth a face from the sky Number all the letters in the word of the law A method observing the missing The eyelid or a thin layer of data A metaphysics a mouth that speaks itself Harmony a common body A metallic headpiece worn thin like a crown A process all is known before it exists A joy nothing is required The silent connoisseur of words and music A fragrance the blood of a flower Creep symbolic purification A rite the old swallowing The innovation to our throats great things arriving The devil appears as two competing desires at once Work mouth that opens to become a rose (originally published in Effing Magazine) |
