An Accounting by Brett Fletcher Lauer

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend October 21, 2016   An Accounting   Brett Fletcher Lauer

In this room, hours pass, a slight corruption of each previous allotted time block—and probably confirm failure and humiliation, which though not ideal, I accept as historically accurate. I'm sick of lifestyle music, the thing between awe and detachment which Hazlitt defines as adrift. I clear my throat remind myself, doors are locked, the ashtray half-full. Unless otherwise noted, light falls from the television— accompanies night, any available other-worldly knowledge. What else? I'm unhappy even at the edge of rivers, conversations regarding weather, any manner of appointment. All comfort requires another voice. Ditto delusion. For instance, these shadows imposed from trees bent by wind and other forms of predictive behavior, may or may not contain consciousness. I'm still working it out. A glass of water grows warm. I have done terrible and middle class things for money. This is not necessarily an acceptable conversation. Things are good. The serotonin reuptake inhibitor fades another winter. If there are things we need, there are things we need less. I face the mirror to say it again with feeling. Understand this is me applying myself.            Copyright © 2016 Brett Fletcher Lauer. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "I can imagine the sad sack in this poem lying in bed, watching his Instagram feed fill up with hundreds of sunsets simultaneously being posted from various vantage points in his city, and he doesn't take the time to get up and look out his own window at what the world is offering. And unfortunately, I completely get that." —Brett Fletcher Lauer   Brett Fletcher Lauer is the author of the memoir Fake Missed Connections: Divorce, Online Dating, and Other Failures (Soft Skull, 2016) and A Hotel in Belgium (Four Way Books, 2014). He is the deputy director of the Poetry Society of America and lives in Brooklyn. Poetry by Lauer   A Hotel in Belgium (Four Way Books, 2014)  "Making Shelves" by D. Nurkse "My Yoko Ono Moment" by David Trinidad "The Anxiety of Coincidence" by Mark Bibbins Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038