Dan Tarnowski Longing for Populous Empathy (Preview) Lack of Press Contents 4 Poems 2009–2011 4. Transgressions in the Liberty Bell Smoothie 7. Glass Boroughs 10 Charcoal Sun 13 Love/session (2004–2008) (2014) Transgressions in the Liberty Bell Smoothie SPRAWLEDOUT INTHEPARK last night i lied in a field the red lights of cars were smearing i could barely keep my eyes open, barely lift my head it was windy i watched the amalgamation of the tree tops surge and sway as one green unit one animal with many legs i watched a thin pine-needled branch dance over my head with a familiar rhythm like the waves of a beach my head was empty i was helpless but i knew no one could hurt me there or tell me to leave and i looked around, unable to speak, feeling the perplexity of a child 2 all my childhood memories are meaningless like when i went fishing with my dad and the pier where we fished was too populated with fish or our bait was too good because i kept catching the same kind of fish over and over until i got bored and i cast my line out with the fish still on the hook like a really heavy bobber and the hook ripped through the fish’s lip and i saw the fish spiral in the air glinting then hit the cerulean waves Glass Boroughs 5:00 SHADOW as i shave beside the open window with my dress shirt on a hanger on the doorknob the breeze carries a chill soon summer will end back when my face was creaseless i’d fantasize in these moments about long shadows cast by the low sun but this evening i feel more like those shadows separating from the sun like oil getting so close that they disappear WALKED AROUND I didn’t understand why I couldn’t get into the studio And gave up. I walked around soaking In beauties of the weather trying to feel Something transcendent run through my body, And sometimes when the sound of a bell matched up With a stunning visual I felt a shock, but mostly I felt Underwater or under jell-o and walked around bored wishing I was in love with a blonde Charcoal Sun CHANGE IS GOOD AND HARD I had a dream in which someone asked me where I would go if I could go anywhere in the world. I blurted out the word “love” without fully considering his question. 10 STARVING it’s the beginning of spring though still chilly and we’re sitting in a garden. i want to rub my bare arm against yours. it looks like i have lanugo, a dense cottony growth of hair, common among anorexics. i’m not anorexic, i’m just thin, though i am starving for you. 11 Love/session 1 I put ur favorite drinks in my fridge Because I’m not afraid to love Waiting for you Night fell I’m drinking those drinks And txting my friends Because I’m not afraid to forget you I see her face and legs and breasts But, my friend, I love your heart 13 2 Cultural moments like these: The many lightbulbed ball Skulking its way to zero hour Like a heavy leaf Freeze us in time Inches before we kiss Strangers That will hurt us Long after They love us We share our heads Right when we lose our heads Total up the amount of time I’ve spent Deciding what to wear to work Compared with the amount of time I’ve spent loving My heart broke once On the day I became an intellectual And twice on the day I fell in love With human flesh 14