by Kevin Griffith
A man is strapped down,
down next to ankle-high hilltops,
trees made with toothpicks and moss.
Between his spread legs lies a parking lot,
a long escalator rising over his groin, up and up
to his chest, where a carousel endlessly whirls,
its harmonium driving him mad. Bumper cars
sizzle over his nipples, while a barker
plugs the freak show that is his collection
of various moles. Games of chance include
hoop toss of regrets, guilt a duck, and let’s not forget
guess my weight and age, again and again.
Finally, the man’s mouth is forced open,
made into a cave into which the tiny tracks
of the coaster lead, all the screams returning
to their birth, one last time.
Kevin Griffith is the author of numerous books of poetry and short fiction, the most recent of which is 101 Kinds of Irony (Folded Word, 2013). His book of prose poems, Denmark, Kangaroo, Orange, was selected by Denise Duhamel as the winner of the 2008 Pearl Poetry Prize. In 2014, he achieved world-wide fame when he and his eleven-year-old son recreated the novel Infinite Jest completely in Legos.
Hawaii Pacific Review 