Jessica Laser
Several Unisons
Just to see the grain in the wood
The grave in the world
The building I love
To look in but own
Then release it like a groan
I love to look in the window but own the building
A broken spoke clicks against
The rim so fast it
Sounds continuous
But it is all just little clicks
Just to see the government inside
People come
To the TV
A white convertible with leather seats
Rolls by and not continuously
And not enviously
To watch it
And let it
Several Unisons
Love, conveyed by one of two belts, the other
For beating, does the heart a favor and another
For beating. To sit at the edge and spit over it.
To be scolded. If everyone did that we’d
Have a new ocean, a leash sprayed on a dog
Like a preexisting condition. The dog is spayed,
The leash frayed that stalks it, that retains
A dog that would otherwise stalk.
Several Unisons
Objects that don’t belong to me
Pass through lives of the living
In arcs which are real
Arch back like a spine in
Pleasure, come to stone
Under which objects
Haven’t lived yet, people
The great inscription reads
Patience will set you
Someone has carved out the free
Jessica Laser reads “Several Unisons” – “Just to see the grains in the wood”
Jessica Laser reads “Several Unisons” – “Love, conveyed by one of two belts, the other”
Jessica Laser reads “Several Unisons” – “Objects that don’t belong to me”
Jessica Laser is the author of Sergei Kuzmich from All Sides (Letter Machine Editions, 2019) and Planet Drill (Futurepoem Books, forthcoming). She lives in Berkeley, where she is a PhD student in English.