Three poems by Ben Kopel from "Victory"

BAR FIGHT #2

Only because I felt like it—the

ashtray kid with seven hearts

cocked. Lit up and clockwork.

A face across my face.

My hands across your face. 

Your ex-girlfriend

adjusting her wig at the bar.

Like clockwork. Part mutilation.

Part victory. Part garden. 

Like the apology of a city

in your hands and

across my face.

JOHN BERRYMAN DRUNK DIAL

No,

this is not that dream—

air slams air

& the author

he laughs &

me,

my smile gets smashed

::

No,

I’m not

falling

I’m not

nearly high enough

VALENTINE

All expectations

drum roll

and meridians

I am

scared sacred

having nothing

to prove

to no

one waiting

for what

is not

gone to

go off

and on

until the

sun catches

me crying

the light

sees me

singing the

phonebook to

me myself

this freak

an accident

a heart

of hearts

These three poems appear in Ben Kopel's new book of poetry, Victory (H_NGM_N Books). The [Aesthesia Balderdash]::[Victory] Sui-Southern Tour featuring Ben Kopel and Kim Vodicka will be touring through Louisiana and Texas in June. From an interview in the current issue of BOMB magazine's Bombsite blog, Jack Christian asked Kopel about the book's division into seven sections: Somewhere in this process I came across a Garcia Lorca poem that became a guiding light. It’s called “Song of the Boy with Seven Hearts,” and its refrain can be translated as something resembling Seven hearts are the hearts that I have, but mine is not there among them. That hit home to an insane degree . . . the idea that one could contain a multitude of love and yet still be somewhat shot through with a lack that sings. Seven itself is a special number. It’s a holy number. Man is five. The devil is six. God is seven. Monkeys go to heaven. With the holy ghost in the machine, I felt like things would fall into place for the best. Also, I love beginnings and endings, and this structure allowed me seven of each.