“Shananananananana Knees, Knees” – Poetry by Adam Tedesco

The Supplicant – Oskar Kokoschka, 1914

“Shananananananana Knees, Knees” is one of three uncannily powerful poems by Adam Tedesco in our Spring 2017 issue.

{ X }

CHANCE MOMENTS OF EQUILIBRIUM make it easy
to forget the signs before off ramps do not

mark your location rather destinations
and your sign is not a rabbit but a hole

in gravities where you joined the search
party the days of rage and hate boil down

one plant to change their minds when
swat team vans encircled you the fire would

not speak of danger through a doorknob
to see a father pinned under guns drawn

everything opened for you once and there
is a name for that you say they’re coming

for the children too what burden of balance
swallowing the sweat of hot house glass

while driving from a to b untouchable
by shallow graves or cold frames like

the dune buggies on the beach or sleeping
dogs shot nearby we are not home but coming

soon watch the stars move across night
we talk about the name for how we never

move and the points between all points are
inside of us too between then and now we say

there is a simple explanation for everything
except why we are alive and on our knees

{ X }

ADAM TEDESCO is a founding editor of REALITY BEACH, a journal of new poetics based in both Albany and Manhattan. He conducts interviews and analyzes dreams for Drunk In A Midnight Choir. His recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in Funhouse, Fanzine, Fence, Powder Keg, Hobart, Plinth and elsewhere. He is the author of several chapbooks, most recently HEART SUTRA (REALITY BEACH), and ABLAZA, now available from Lithic Press.

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