An Exaltation of Larks
For Martin
Clean your place. Get new shoes. Get new sheets.
Calm down. Buck up. Work out.
Google capital of Andorra. Floss more.
Google animal collective nouns. Tell him about
crash of rhinos. Kaleidoscope of butterflies.
Talk about episteme. Talk about Sontag.
Don’t talk about book deal. Get bigger book deal.
Bigger brain. Ask dazzling questions.
Grow three inches taller. Three years younger.
Lose the chin. The stink of loneliness.
Don’t be so fucking vampirish.
Get a tan. Thicken beard. Swell bank account.
Don’t freak out. Sit up straight. Here he comes–
Brendon Booth-Jones is the Editor-in-Chief of Writer’s Block Magazine in Amsterdam. Brendon’s work has appeared in Anti-Heroin Chic, Amaryllis, Botsotso, The Blue Nib, Ghost City Review, Odd Magazine, Peeking Cat, Scarlet Leaf Review, Zigzag and elsewhere. Brendon won the 2019 White Label Competition for his debut poetry collection, Vertigo to Go, which will be published by Hedgehog Poetry Press in 2020. Find him on Facebook @brendonboothjoneswriter