There is a zen koan; “this book
of love poems says nothing.”

After his girlfriend left
Noah Cicero had a tragic flaw:

Noah Cicero’s life.

This isn’t an argument.

According to people, this planet has a lot of people;
I have been watching Noah Cicero’s life.

According to people I don’t know, at times I am sorry.

She started texting while Noah Cicero was meditating.

Noah Cicero sent:
I WAS IN OREGON,
IN THE GRAND CANYON, STANDING
ON FOSTER ROAD
IN SOUTHEAST PORTLAND.

Noah Cicero sent:
SOMETIMES I LIE DOWN; HOW DID THE MOON?

Noah Cicero sent a pigeon running through NoahN Cicero;
sent this book of poems.

He told her as they walked away,
XXX XXXX XX.

Source Text: First lines from Noah Cicero’s Bipolar Cowboy (Portland: Lazy Fascist, 2015)

Jamison Crabtree is a Black Mountain Institute PhD fellow at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. His first book, Rel(AM)ent was awarded the Word Works’ Washington prize. Find it at www.spdbooks.org/Producte/9780915380923/relament.aspx