BRENNEN LUKAS

Brennen Lukas resides in Philadelphia with his wife and two rogue guinea pigs. He is currently completing a Masters Degree in creative writing at Temple University while maintaining a sporadically but lovingly updated poetry blog called Under Mind. His work has been published in Grand Street, and the long poem "Merely Listen" won the Academy of American Poetry's 2004 award for Poem of the Year at Temple University.

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EXCERPTS FROM MERELY LISTEN

The skies are glancing. Down. In touches and strokes. If there is a language there. Something to follow. An outward involvement. Proof. That there is connection. Gesture. And perception. The said and the heard. What might be considered. To apply to it. In terms of others. The thing itself. Already had form. Long before. Intervention. In mirrors and looks. To find out. What was there. Waiting to Speak. The voice. That described. The beginning. That first anticipation.

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The signs evaporate. Into the air. What poetry. Can be made. Of lips. Merely listen. In any. Direction. What might happen if I allow. A gust of air. Past the blinds. Into the room. While outside. The rain escapes.

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Quieter. In written form. Permanent mode. Of direct transmission. The first syntax. Seems forgotten. Not heard. Felt. Imagined. Sometimes myths. Stories. A story. To tell. To talk. No matter what. At the beginning. A position. Outside the representational. That the world. Does exist. Exterior to the bliss. Of sleeping. For years. I've been inside. A sequence. A finite core of hope.

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To recreate. To improvise. A certain dignity. Give it up. It's the going. I like. Choices. Narrative or story. The person always defeated. This time wins. It happens. In the gaps. Between the molecules. One memory. Whispers. To another. Sound. Between the bars. Hear some teaspoons. On the table. The afternoon begins. To circle. Again.

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Frame it around. Excerpt of. Something. That came before. Go back to. Any place. Some words. From any page. You will find something. Tears welling up. That August day. Dry grass dying. That same feeling. Repetition. Nonphysical act of motion. Continuation of. Being. In flux.
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Staring at balance. The moment suggests. A move. A problem not to be passed over. Already passing. An evocation. Something alarming. Some sound. Beyond reaction. Looking for time. In the entryway. I cease to think about. What is to come.

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Segue. To. A particular issue. What is it. Against. You. The most primitive event. Worth remembering. Already complex. Before anything is said. An unexamined power. Imbalance. We need each other. A little bit. Don't we desire. Understanding. Vision. Passage. Inclusion of the excluded parts. Beyond summary. Now that this is. Happening. In what way does. Your letter. Acknowledge. The formation. Of the imperfect.

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The space around the self. Once you set out. To reinvent. You. End up. Carrying. Stack of ideas. A list of things. Reflections. That are happening. You absorb the task. The door swings wide. Things seen before completion. Rudimentary elements. The looming mirror quality. To switch to that. To keep track. To admit a weakness. An inability. To change. Or say nothing. Of that. No particulars. Not against space. A reprieve. A continuation. To emphasize. In a sense. In a way. A sequence. A street. Setting or rising. The image seems to be saying. A thousand. Ends. To this continuum. And then you have. A confluence. An instant. Instance. You know. The silhouettes. Of memory. You begin marking down. The true. Especially. When you open. When you make a mark. You can come back. But also. That possibility. To end. It could hold. You could hold. The afterwards. Seems to contain relief. What would be gained or lost. How it would be. A sublime moment. A momentous gesture. Though the world. Isn't looking. Even less. How it would feel. Something missing. The self gone missing. The search for. Another possibility. To walk. The wide avenue of fear. Since the day. Someone told you.

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One thing I saw. They end where they begin. Relationships. Circling around. Between statements. White space. Type of. Move away. From openness. If you look. At a map. Invisible line. To the ear. Uncomfortable. Love. Both sides. On both sides. Element of time. Opposite. Present tense. In the moment. Clasped together. Brings it up. Again. The line. In perfect sense. A fit. A cable. Fastening. Starting out. From far away. A vagueness. Uncertainty. Lack of completion. Then. The sequence opens. Into recognition. The person begins.

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Instead of speaking. There is time. The miles. The sky. Contact and disconnect. Both at the same time. On the surface. One way. Another. Putting forward. What could be missed. The problem with. How to pursue. To make sense. Of the automatic motions. As if that was possible. As if there were. A point of turning. One could identify. A pause. At the moment of leaving. A remembered purpose. The space of the body. Its possible positions. Now leaning hard against. A series of tragedies. From earlier years. Again. Origin. Practice of the voice. Messages arriving. From the isolated. Other. Another. That it's possible. That there is. A ready touch. A tight grasp. Some of that. Element. To define. To hold on.