Jenna Goldsmith
Restrooms Apologetics
The poems come from publishers and are arranged near Restrooms of the bookstore
In the bookstore the poetry shelves are an arrow that point to Restrooms
If I stand to browse poetry which I do because you have to look closely as poetry spines are thin they require attention
So people browse me on their way to Restrooms
This is a bookstore, after all
The human brain conditioned to read and shit
Take some reading material we say to kids
Do people still read poetry? ask the people in the poetry-Restrooms-parade
It’s dignified to browse the poetry section at the bookstore because it still feels dignified to read and buy poetry in 2018 as we grieve dignity
The bookstore doing its part to pause even the small dignity of reading and buying poetry because Restrooms door is swinging open and shut and sounds emerge okay that’s humans you think have some respect
I’m sorry
Aime Cesaire I’m sorry
Emily Dickinson I’m sorry
Daniel Borzutzky I’m sorry
Andrea Gibson I’m sorry
Charles Bukowski I’m sorry
Jorie Graham I’m sorry
Mary Oliver I’m sorry
Gertrude Stein I’m sorry
Rainer Maria Rilke I’m sorry
Aime Cesaire I’m sorry because I heard her sneeze and you were writing bind me with your vast arms of luminous clay
Emily Dickinson I’m sorry because I heard a metal latch and you were writing The Heart asks Pleasure – First – / And then – Excuse from Pain
Daniel Borzutzky I’m sorry because I heard a sticky gym shoe and you were writing I hear the children of Chicago singing / We live in the blankest of times
Andrea Gibson I’m sorry because I heard a paper towel machine spitting sheets and you were writing I left a poem in your mouth
Charles Bukowski I’m sorry because I heard concurrent flushes and you were writing my typewriter is / tombstone / still
Jorie Graham I’m sorry because I heard an expression and you were writing my / name is day, of day, in day
Mary Oliver I’m sorry because I heard Do people still read poetry? and you were writing Don’t think / I’m not afraid
Gertrude Stein I’m sorry because I heard the toddler spanked and you were writing A cool red rose and a pink cut pink
Rainer Maria Rilke I’m sorry you were writing go into yourself and see how deep the place is from which your life flows and I was standing by Restrooms reading poetry spines while they read How to Win Friends and Influence People and The Art of the Deal and Popular Mechanics and What to Expect When You’re Expecting and The Firm and another Tiger Woods biography and Twilight
the weight of a thousand words
bearing down the spine
on the bowels
Jenna Goldsmith‘s writing has been featured in Rabbit Catastrophe Review, New Delta Review, The Waggle, ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, and disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory. She is the recipient of the inaugural Kentucky Writers Fellowship for innovative poetry from the Baltic Writing Residency. A Great Lakes poet by training and by tendency, she is currently Instructor of Writing in the American Studies Program at Oregon State University Cascades in Bend, OR.
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