Now raising children as a lifestyle
we look so much like American poets,
except they had more Dexedrine
and less automation.
Amazon, for example, brings Richard
Brautigan to my door, and I tell him to leave;
I had ordered Tom Raworth
in a sling. What did it mean to dally
in Denver anyway? I hear they never even
spent any gambling winnings.
Not a lottery ticket in Hell did they buy.
These useless Americanisms
tarnish my name anyway.
What nationality do I appropriate
to naturalise this saturnine
but saturnalian turn?
The West is in a state of Brexit
and we are boarding the rocket ship
as a family!
Corey Wakeling lives in Takarazuka City. He is an associate professor of English at Kobe College. His most recent collection is The Alarming Conservatory (Giramondo, 2018).