DONATO MANCINI

If Violence (Hey You)

[excerpt]

turn around

bright eyes.

hello it’s me.

hello my double

delight. the cat’s shot

a cop

coz the arm’s

no hammered crowbar. what.

obvious

isn’t it. just common

ironsense. you

only you.

can’t get you can’t

get you out out

out out of my head.

this is why you must bore a few small holes into my rather flat skull.

ever open if

you can afford it.

it’s important to me

you know that you are free. love

in an elevator. life

in a shipping container.

no question

mark. drill news alive

and in

line.

we’re looking out

for you. cabbage soup

might

spill

hot

shoe.

hey buddy. comrade. avenue

chum. would your people like a parade.

you people.

would you

and you people

like to apply

for a permit

to riot. a transit

fare evasion blitz.

gonna hear electric music

solid walls of sound.

a minor.

b minor.

c major.

a major.

major b.

e major.

incoming a.m.

interpellation radio

call in the grocery store.

bulk foods aisle

samplers are thieves.

sort of a laser tag deem-riot.

i refuse to come back as a bug or a rabbit.

in a world where few hearts survive

who knows what tomorrow brings.

pink peace. lady sylvia. inside the cranberry

coloured auditorium i took the time

to start with a beer joke.

bridging the gap

between doing nothing

and killing people.

as of today

you are old enough

to gift. don’t speak

unless spoken to.

if language.

if life.

if violence.

another day begins

to end.

at last

i have found you.

you were always here

the whole time already.

cross-contamination.

you’re the one that i want

most least.

answer.

succeed.

blush

noisette. wasp round. rational

needles etch sentences. compulsory

hit song. mandatory

bestseller. open

red book. pyga

sacer.

our dog woofer bit him on the bum.

hello i

love you won’t

you tell me your name.

your papers please. grant

visibility.

loving blind and just.

we knew just where you lived

the whole time already.

aerial drone

+ stag party

+ false positive

= grievous hail. visit

gunthunder. mild

governability.

table

of contents. census

human freight.

euphemism unequal exchange .…