of all the foam that’s left my body
acid molds in junk engines
today, i am lifting small strokes—
oilbirds with guttural voices
biorhythmic blast furnace
curtailed by the shallow satin threads
this cave laughs—
and shovels words denatured
today, i sell god’s high pitched gestures
disguised in dissolving hyperlingo
the taut mixture a swarm of vowels
that metabolize metal
& in the skirmishes
rendering pinworms create an altar—
faced against a sweeping sunline
Maxwell Rabb is the author of the chapbook Faster, the Whirl Wheel (Greying Ghost, forthcoming 2023). He lives in Chicago, leaving his heart in New Orleans and Atlanta. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in the Action Books Blog, Sleeping Fish, mercury firs, and Tagvverk, among others. He is currently an MFA candidate at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He co-edits GROTTO.
