SATURDAY IN LATE CAPITALISM 

the weed man came 

and it was all commerce 

no magic 

except his neck 

which said MAGIC 

and now 

we are out 

of money 

but there are dragons 

in the clouds 

I didn’t see before 

and I’m not 

even high 

but the birds are 

going crazy 

outside 

and it’s a poem 

so I guess 

I should mention 

the rain 

and I feel good 

giving up 

in spring 

POEM FOR THE LONELY (AKA A POEM) 

I suffer
from chronic love
a radio that plays
only images
melancholy
a beautiful word
a beautiful world
beat cops
a satisfying phrase
as is incessant sirens
if you mean winged-things
singing on rocks
to thwart war
borders are murder
lies fly from a shimmering cesspool
the drool of
capitalism
to backstroke in
we are all like a poem
caught in a form
rogue algebra
of the body
to solve for x
forgiveness
a religion
of only memory
got me
this far
says the sway hold
of hips and trees
which tore through any mystery
honestly who hasn’t wasted
their life
and the stars are so far
to touch
so touch
it’s 4:45 AM
we all gotta go to work
I love you
ok? ok
goodnight 

1994

—for Thomas Anthony Newhall 

what a time to be dead
“a lalapalooza of loneliness”
is how I described it
to the doctors 

antediluvian dreams my ass
somehow the rain
got in my brain 

I still wonder
what happened
to the lone goat
perched on the fence post
above the flood 

what’s your miracle?
you asked—
to have survived 

that time
in geometry class
when I accidentally
invented night 

how dare the air
be free
of fear
and never alone 

all I ever wanted was to reach
through the night
to touch you
say goodbye 

I know they’re just stars
but I see you
in the space between
at home
tinkering on the absolute 

Sampson Starkweather is the author of the do-si-do double chapbook for the end of the world, A Week in Late Capitalism / Ancient Capitalistic Proverbs from b l u s h. He is also the author of PAIN: The Board Game and The First Four Books of Sampson Starkweather and 10 chapbooks, most recently Until the Joy of Death Hits, pop/love audio-visual GIF poems from Spork Press. He is a founding editor of Birds, LLC, an independent poetry press. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Painting by Jen Mazza

Pinks with Stripes, 2014

Sleight of hand, 2010