Degrets
Anselm Berrigan
drawn frogs appear to serve the exoskeletal goddess
in full mollusk shrug, shelves built for dated wreck
registers, cranial outbursts finely detailed, opening
at the outline of a spotlit ribcage, lists of thefts enter
micro-entry zones, respectability a possessive monster
needleteeth palms, langorous working in a front of
poured-in window light, off-white airshaft blue pushing
forward into the flatness of a room masquerading as
two wear out a corner, somnambulist soap performance
trickles along, black & white docu-film footage of
my fam’s thing-strewn space makes way into numbered
views, anyone may anonymously enter the screen
version of your interior & very few will, column
of skulls stands up a bulb socket, speed hump ahead
15 mph, minnows twig-hopping, playing pick up styx
in the hydroponic vape church fuming newness outs
of touch, & truth kicks back at a fool’s conception of
neutrality, thump thump, these kids need to stop falling
out of bed, ghost marooned on sock induces mock
shriek from the sub-aquatic generation I raise on stay
or no cookie, name of network: true, like & hurt go
hand in hand, the zebraic cosmologic selfie rides with
a drone stick, acktility expenses, tick trick carriers
careening into shape of snakes, sonar belts aura
saying activate instead of turn on, to radicalize a golden
tongue, dig the corpse & call it rotary possiblimity, we
just can’t help wiping the weird out of intelligence
About this poem
“This poem is part of an ongoing series in which all the poems are called ‘Regrets,’ ‘Pregrets,’ or ‘Degrets.’ I expect you’re familiar with regrets, while ‘pregrets’ have to do with getting ready to feel regret, and ‘degrets’ are a total breakdown space. In this case the clauses combining into shape are coming out of glimpses into various forms of a room.” – Anselm Berrigan
About Anselm Berrigan
Anselm Berrigan is the author of “Primitive State” (Edge Books, 2015). He is the poetry editor for The Brooklyn Rail and lives in New York City, where he grew up.
The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day@poets.org.
(c) 2016 Anselm Berrigan. Originally published by the Academy of American Poets, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate.
