Bob Carr
G.R.I.D.
Come into me unsheathed
strand, little death hood
between boy and man.
Simmer in the warm lining
of my ass. Dance as I play
percussion on the empty
case of your clarinet,
beat that burns
the blonde of loved arms
to nub, the singeing stink
of your match.
Come over me, decade
of brownouts as I plunge
fingers into a rib cage
and split myself to you.
Come around me, clustering
of little boy smells, raging stain
dripping absence of color
from a bag on a pole.
Come, come to me
in the startled brow
of a lover who called me
his only one,
the small voice saying
the sarcoma on his arm
is a birthmark I’ve forgotten.
Bob Carr is the author of “Amaranth”, a chapbook published in 2016 by Indolent Books. In his writing life, Bob is currently working with Michael Broder as co-editor on the HH&N print anthology. Recent work by Bob appears in the Bellevue Literary Review, Kettle Blue Review, New Verse News, Radius Literary Magazine, Pretty Owl Poetry, White Stag Journal, The Good Men Project and other publications. He lives with his husband Stephen in Malden, Massachusetts, and serves as Deputy Director for the Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. His poetry, book reviews, and upcoming events can be found at robertcarr.org