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Poems after Joe Brainard

poems written while reading Joe Brainard and looking at his art

By Joe NastaPublished 2 years ago 2 min read
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Untitled (Tattoo)

I love Pat I love Jane I love Maxine I love Ron

I love Ken four leaf clover chains I love Marilyn

my heart bleeds my empty broken heart I return

to John swallow rotating dice I was born a fish a web

of love I was born to win wishbone red eyes I love Steve

daisy daisies red stars red roses swallow my love belly

button nipple hairless skin horseshoes swallow my love.

Untitled (Various Images)

home

an ant

a ghastly flower

cigarette butts

goofy, confused

water cracker

ice cube

schoolboy portrait

postmark postage stamp

butterfly in black & white

french fries

ankle, foot

rectangles

a single die

inkblot

unlit match

Untitled (Various Images) 2

skull bone light rubbings

grass condom wrapper

windows chimney smoke

fetish blood an opening

the moon bad luck charms

a letter you didn’t receive

false memories

the edge of the page.

Ha why do I always return

unimportant things

thinking

poems

unanswerable questions

the past, the future

when the only moment is

(light pierces interruptingly from the skylight

to reflect off an apple watch into my eye

because it’s beautiful outside, although

it will be dark by the time today ends)

What were we talking about?

Untitled (Tattoo) 2

Red Club Heart

Spade Diamond Red

Diamond Spade Heart

Club Red Heart Diamond

Red Spade Club Red Club

Diamond Red Spade

Heart An open hand

A closed fist the size of my heart

Chest & abdomen Implied groaning

Remembering Important times

Dates, ink, color Red Club

Heart Spade

Red red

Red red

Red.

art
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About the Creator

Joe Nasta

Hi! I'm a queer multimodal artist writing love poems in Seattle, one half of the art and poetry collective Eat Yr Manhood, and head curator of Stone Pacific Zine. Work in The Rumpus, Occulum, Peach Mag, dream boy book club, and others. :P

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