

Poodle* Tote Bag
Patronage
- Solmaz Sharif
They say
willingness is what one needs
to succeed.
They say one needs to succeed.
*
Our poets do not imagine
a screaming
audience.
Our poets are used to padding,
vinyl, on the foldable chairs,
bookshelves on casters
moved aside
to make space for them
A world polite
for their words
A well-behaved.
A world’s behavior
malformed and they step
in as one steps in
to a nursery and
quiet
calms the tantrum
attempts not to wake
the sleeping, the milk-drunk
and burped babe.
Our poets coo.
And beg their feet be placed in a large room.
*
Prize ring. Bull ring. Lion
through the ring of flames.
Poets convinced they are ringmaster
when it is with big brooms and bins, in fact,
they enter to clear the elephant scat.
*
There was an inlet
I pulled over once to watch the sunset, which
was still another hour or so away, the light
just low enough there to begin to change.
I should’ve stayed. I should’ve stayed.
*
A life of idle, with money
doing the work. A life beholden,
but bestowed. To make reformists of us all,
even the fascists.
Especially
of the fascists.
*
But he’s a patron.
But he makes a star of us,
he makes us of rank.
But he’s a churchgoer
and they place their hands on him and pray and bountiful
grow their wives’ bellies, a bully
for each family. Exponential doom.
Singing to each other in the private gazebo of their youth.
*
Now sing.
*
I said what I meant
but I said it
in velvet. I said it in feathers.
And so one poet reminded me
Remember what you are to them.
Poodle, I said.
And remember what they are to you.
*
Meat.
Patronage
- Solmaz Sharif
They say
willingness is what one needs
to succeed.
They say one needs to succeed.
*
Our poets do not imagine
a screaming
audience.
Our poets are used to padding,
vinyl, on the foldable chairs,
bookshelves on casters
moved aside
to make space for them
A world polite
for their words
A well-behaved.
A world’s behavior
malformed and they step
in as one steps in
to a nursery and
quiet
calms the tantrum
attempts not to wake
the sleeping, the milk-drunk
and burped babe.
Our poets coo.
And beg their feet be placed in a large room.
*
Prize ring. Bull ring. Lion
through the ring of flames.
Poets convinced they are ringmaster
when it is with big brooms and bins, in fact,
they enter to clear the elephant scat.
*
There was an inlet
I pulled over once to watch the sunset, which
was still another hour or so away, the light
just low enough there to begin to change.
I should’ve stayed. I should’ve stayed.
*
A life of idle, with money
doing the work. A life beholden,
but bestowed. To make reformists of us all,
even the fascists.
Especially
of the fascists.
*
But he’s a patron.
But he makes a star of us,
he makes us of rank.
But he’s a churchgoer
and they place their hands on him and pray and bountiful
grow their wives’ bellies, a bully
for each family. Exponential doom.
Singing to each other in the private gazebo of their youth.
*
Now sing.
*
I said what I meant
but I said it
in velvet. I said it in feathers.
And so one poet reminded me
Remember what you are to them.
Poodle, I said.
And remember what they are to you.
*
Meat.
To build an ice house....
poem t-shirt
$25
*
Short Sleeve: M, L
w/ pocket: M, XL
long sleeve: XL
In collaboration with Ellie Gordon.
Screenprinted CMYK in LA.
For Polly
- Ellie Gordon
I want to feel like a soft dogs ear
Pure and simple
Devoid of artifice
But i'm just trying to be in this body
You tell me about charms
Dripping sparkly things
99 cents hopeful rhinestone
Bought a music note pin east of new mexico
Where theres this angel
Who tells me I can be
A soft dogs ear
A man with an elixir
A radio with no answer
A healer with a switchboard
A sturdy house in iowa
Standing between cornfields
Asking for more water
The angel is a hydrosol mist
Something about Joseph and his technicolors
To hope for cornflowers
To build an ice house
To ask for longer days
The sun laughs at you,
In the sweetest possible way.
poem t-shirt
$25
*
Short Sleeve: M, L
w/ pocket: M, XL
long sleeve: XL
In collaboration with Ellie Gordon.
Screenprinted CMYK in LA.
For Polly
- Ellie Gordon
I want to feel like a soft dogs ear
Pure and simple
Devoid of artifice
But i'm just trying to be in this body
You tell me about charms
Dripping sparkly things
99 cents hopeful rhinestone
Bought a music note pin east of new mexico
Where theres this angel
Who tells me I can be
A soft dogs ear
A man with an elixir
A radio with no answer
A healer with a switchboard
A sturdy house in iowa
Standing between cornfields
Asking for more water
The angel is a hydrosol mist
Something about Joseph and his technicolors
To hope for cornflowers
To build an ice house
To ask for longer days
The sun laughs at you,
In the sweetest possible way.

We publish poetry collections, art monographs, & occasionally play w/ airwaves.
All of our poetry collections are available as suggested-donation pdfs.
All of our poetry collections are available as suggested-donation pdfs.
©nueoi
(a small press in los angeles)