Notes from an Open Channel

Never ending note taking

and a mocking silence caught

something of the frequency

in the room. Maybe it’s best

to follow the accents of a

projected intelligentsia

Anything can be dispensable

yet invaluable---

Understated flirtations,

a numb sky, oxymoronic phenomena,

a dry ice truck accident

on the BQE heralds the beginning

of an early winter, the evanescence

of vapor, hard water, the beauty of

drifting trash, or a spare cigarette

lit and cupped against the wind

in a lyrical gesture--all can be

reduced to its nuisances, belabored

propositions or a litany

of excuses with some nagging nostalgia

for an Iberian shore

taken in small doses.

The list is an absolute

good and all around its margins

lies the channel or a new

category. I think this

is an act of repositioning

or a darkening of responsibility.

RYAN NOWLIN