Poems and Texts

“NIGHT HAMSTER” by erica kaufman

NIGHT HAMSTER

for JC, DW, BB

i don’t pay attention to
hope anymore horse becomes
landmark only statement
of catchphrases stolen the ladies
know i don’t sleep much
resist causality       i’m cold in
front of the fire    occupy gesture
documentation asynchronous
couch meaning in pharmacies
totes rigidified like the museum
on juden strasse full of what
look like ancient clothes
i’m really aware of how identity
shudders as if line dancing
through omniscient points of view
i want to know how to say
you can’t blame homophobia
on natural disasters    so instead
panic on flatbush    realize we’re all
increasingly fallen    impose
questions dead leaves this coterie

erica kaufman

erica kaufman is the author of POST CLASSIC (Roof Books, 2019), INSTANT CLASSIC (Roof Books, 2013) and censory impulse (Factory School, 2009). she is also the co-editor of NO GENDER: Reflections on the Life and Work of kari edwards (Venn Diagram, 2009), and of Adrienne Rich: Teaching at CUNY, 1968-1974 (Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative, 2014). prose and critical work can be found in: The Color of Vowels: New York School Collaborations (ed. Mark Silverberg, Palgrave MacMillan, 2013), The Supposium: Thought Experiments and Poethical Play in Difficult Times (ed. Joan Retallack, Litmus Press, 2018), Approaches to Teaching the Works of Gertrude Stein (eds. L’ Esdale and D. Mix, MLA, 2018), and Reading Experimental Writing (ed. G. Colby, Edinburgh University Press). recent poems can be found in A Perfect Vacuum and P-Queue. kaufman is the Director of the Bard College Institute for Writing & Thinking and Visiting Assistant Professor of Humanities.

Related Events