National Poetry Month : Sacha Archer,

 

 

The Wheel

When you begin the day
                                                waiting for the day to end
and the end of the day
                                    is a drink
which in turn is an erasure
                                                in which you float
on a moaning couch, eyes
                                                closed and listening
to ice in a glass that cracks
                                                in your hand
that is only possibly your own
                                                hand (you don't recognize it,)
well then, you begin the day. 

Nourished on a far-fetched
                                                erotic, a Buddhist wheel
of lives that cycle endlessly
                                                out of reach, the power generated in
and emanating from the black
                                                hole around which the body
has accumulated is to live
                                                a thousand times inside-out
with the dream of words
                                                at your disposal. You could act,
of course. You could become
                                                a pig or a snake or a snail.
You could be a goddamn crocodile
                                                with nothing on your plate but to eat,
but to eat and eat and eat
                                                and care nothing for others
their beautiful bodies
                                                passing so deliciously through the air.

 

 

Sacha Archer lives in Burlington, Ontario with his wife and two daughters. Recent publications include Mother’s Milk (Timglaset), Hydes (nOIR:Z), Jung Origami (Enneract Editions) and Immortality (Viktlösheten) as well as a collaborative sound poetry album with nina jane drystek, Years Between Rooms. His work has recently been included in the anthologies Mouth of a Lion (steel incisors, 2021) and Watch Your Head (Coach House Books, 2020). His book Empty Building is forthcoming from Penteract Press as well as a chapbook, KIM (knife fork book). Find him on Facebook and Instagram @sachaarcher, or on twitter @sachaarchermeat.