Of Absurdity

After asking
“Are you a lesbian?”
Mother shoots daugher

The inanity of humanity

Source text: New York Times review of “Iowa” 4/13/2015

The Universe Is Weeping

The universe is weeping

Screams of pain
Over chain-rattline loops
Inside a dark, cold, place
Alien and hostile

Its blackness reveals
Its many shades

Streams of loneliness
Flow into a new space:
One not empty but filled with itself
Possessing its own weight
Its own gravity
Its own presence

Words become vibrations

Let the vibrations go
Let them be free

Source text: Alan Cummings, “When the Music’s Over,” The Wire, June 2002

Christopher Iacono lives with his wife and son in Massachusetts. Beside writing fiction and poetry, he has written book reviews for Three Percent and the Neglected Books Page. When he is not writing, he copyedits and proofreads marketing materials.