Alice Hall - Three Poems

SOMETHING ABOUT THE WATER—

or about the smell—the sand and urine and—sweat or maybe the sun—on the river—felt like—just
felt—the night on top of wyoming—full of love—and afraid—the crown of pomegranate—beach
chair on uhaul—disembodied thumb—drinking gas station beer—trucked—drinking wine—each of
us—drifting between—the two bottles—the two bruises—inner thigh—swallow tail—move like a
mermaid—the rubber tube, the razor burn—sweet stomach—cold from wet grass—hair full of
smoke—and sunscreen—a hinge—tiny window—the seventeen hours—the rain glazed field—
alone, you tiny stained glass—alone, you oregon—alone—you and your years—

WHISTLE REGISTER

You tell these stories of pulling your sister’s hair out:

she’s holding onto the edge of the bunk bed by her fingertips            you’re holding
a fist of her hair. She wants to let go    and you promise
you’ll release her          she jumps        you don’t         fist full of blood and bald

patch

we are making ME TIME        because            like a car alarm
we are useless and unloved. Follow the order of directions      adult-color in shapes
red then light red then blue. Your voice will never sound right to yourself      or to
your mother     who has the same voice                       but a woman’s body

press nails into the skin around the
scab instead of scratching it Ariana Grande cites Mariah Carey and Whitney

Houston

as influences in her vocalic stylings

no one in the dream is ever me, even when it is me

WHEN THE OCEAN SMELLS BAD WE SAY OK

when the ocean smells bad we say ok that’s ok she does that sometimes    I smell the cars
from where I am   it smells like the ocean             but I don’t know if that’s cause the ocean
was dirty   has dirty molecules     or some game of sense association     I walked
today    I didn’t eat food          I had a beer   I waste some time   my underwear looks like
a dead stingray on the bedroom floor    I swallow a little of my mouthwash each night
time moves so fast this way     everyone’s cute wearing Carhartt what work do you do
my hands are weak    I’m finding out I can’t grip can you believe anything new         I
can’t           I put back the expensive beans and grab Western Family        I love you & I lost
a tooth last night       I miss the death spiral around Secaucus   the Goya factory   how it
had no music its lefthandedness