Amie Zimmerman
Objective
Take the foot, for example, as the accessible metaphor
& since it has now been mentioned, spoiled. Conceptual thought
starts as a lie; the permit was paid for just not on time. The structure
of self is that each person packed into this room needs
less space than me; how I wag my pallbearer’s head
at any less than full collapse; how there is purpose
to cartography beyond counting the measure. I almost left!
Year of jubilation! My practice of writing about desire for silence
does not bring me closer to the totality of perfect rest
or sincerity—minor/major/otherwise/in. It was good noodles
under stuttered brown light. My understanding cast itself
into the line drawing we inhabit—pushing, pushing.
Amie Zimmerman lives in Portland, Oregon. Her work has been published, or is forthcoming, in Sixth Finch, West Branch, Seneca Review, Salt Hill, and Paperbag, among others. She has two chapbooks, Oyster (REALITY BEACH) and Compliance (Essay Press), and is an editor for YesYes Books.