Ben Lerner

I invite you to think creatively about politics in the age of histamine.
I invite you to think creatively about politics

given men as they are: asthmatic, out of tune and time,
out of bounds and practice. I invite you to run your mouth, to run your
                                                                                        hands]
through my thin hair like a theme. I invite you to lean your head

against my better judgment. Once uncertainty
ran through these sketches like a Lab. Now, of my early work, a critic has
                                                                                          said:]

"It was open, so I let myself in." Ladies and gentlemen,

tonight's weather has been cancelled. The Academy has condemned
the blue tit. The poor are stealing the saltlicks. Grenades luxuriate
in the garden of decommissioned adjectives, It is the Sabbath. I must
                                                                                    invite you]

to lay down your knowledge claims,
to lay them down slowly and with great sadness.

Given men as they are, women pack snow into jars for the summer ahead.
Given men as they are, the trees surrender.