“If poetry sprang from the void, conceptualism is the void.”

— Vanessa Place, from “Poetry Is Dead, I Killed It

 “There is a world—a relation
unknown, unhindered

by the vast potential
of introspection.”

— Matvei Yankelevich, from “Some Worlds for Dr. Vogt”

 “147 grains of sand walk into a bar and dune know to order. 147 courageous, humble, and perceptive movie critics walk into a bar and buy drinks for everyone who thought Hugo was a dramatically flaccid exercise in high-gloss bourgeoisie treacle surpassed in interestingness by its own Wikipedia article. 147 boxcars walk into the bar and order non-alcoholic beverages because they’re in training. 147 New Yorkers walk into a bar while outside a cop tickets their double-parked dreams. 147 losers walk into a bar and proceed to drink all night in unhinged merriment, laughing raucously at each others’ anecdotes, and generally achieving unexpected levels of happiness, never imagining they are losers at all. 147 futures walk into a bar and order 147 memories, but the bartender gives them weak pours. 147 sad wisps of smoke filtrate into a bar and the bartender looks at them and asks them what’s wrong and as they are sucked up into and split apart and evenly redistributed throughout the atmosphere of the bar by the ceiling fan, the bartender hears them say melancholically that they all just got fired. 147 punchlines walk into a bar and order a setup ‘well.’ 147 sand grains blow into a bar and decline the bartender’s offer of free tapas on the grounds that they are full because there’s a universe in them.”

— Mark Leidner, from an interview with The Rumpus

 “If you start out at a 7-11 and end up in your grandma’s arms, that’s not weird.”

— Zachary Schomburg, from The Pleistocene

 “The new and improved InDigest needs a new and improved site that is easier to access and that allows for more interaction between community members. That’s what this Kickstarter project is all about: we want to grow our community, find new ways to interact with readers, and more efficiently deliver exciting writing to your digital device.”

— from InDigest’s Kickstarter campaign

 

“When I say
boats, I don’t mean goats, but dogs.
Each one had several shames
so we called them Come-you,
from the glottal, a private stutter.”

—Amaranth Borsuk, from “What Is Witheld” from Handiwork