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A kind of forgiveness

9/19/2016

0 Comments

 
                                                "​For the purest sound,you can’t sing at the notes;
                                                             you have to sing 
through them."

There were nights I said yes
when I didn’t want to say yes,
nights my body floated above itself
and didn’t come back.

I like to imagine where I went instead.
Maybe wandering the city.
Maybe folded, tiny, into a watch
ticking deafening ticks. Maybe
I just went home.

But you have to do the work, they say,
if you’re going to do the work. So let
the body return and work:

There were nights I said yes
when I didn’t want to say yes.
Nights I opened my safest parts
to hands that would steal them
and helped pack the boxes.
To say it happened this way is,
in itself, a kind of forgiveness.
The body returns and I tell
the stories: the nights I said yes,
the nights I stayed, the nights
I did not.

I saw them recently, the hands.
They looked like hands, like
my hands. No claws. Things happen
and then they don’t anymore,
and leaving them behind, too,
is a kind of homecoming.

The body comes back into itself,
the work begins, something else
truly ends.

There were nights I did not
get to say no.

When I think of them now,
they’re a row of watches on a table,
all the batteries dead, all telling
the same time,
​
none of them today.
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    Lewis Mundt

    Lewis Mundt is a writer, producer, and publisher living in Minneapolis. His writing has appeared in or on Paper Darts, Revolver, and The Rumpus, among others, and his debut collection The God of the Whole Animal was released in 2015. He has a lot of jobs, one of which is producing and hosting the New Sh!t Show Minneapolis, where he gets to make very loud, very bad jokes at strangers who clap. More at lewismundt.com, and more bad jokes on Twitter (@beardpoetry).

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  • Fall
    • Tayler Karinen
    • Benjamin Lindsey
    • Patrick Harrington
    • Rich Ives
    • Kelly Kotewa
    • Craig Rodgers
    • Laura Fletcher
    • Jen McConnell
    • Remi Skytterstad
  • Past Issues
    • YEAR ONE >
      • Issue 1: October >
        • Dalton Day
        • Camila Maldonado
        • Elizabeth Burton
        • Daniel Kay
        • Shelby Bevins-Sullivan
        • Ryan Havers
      • Issue 2: November >
        • Rob Sturma
        • Candi V. Auchterlonie
        • Christopher Mulrooney
        • William James
        • Andrew Rhys Young
        • Michael Cormack
        • Kayla Pongrac
      • Issue 3: December >
        • Ann Huang
        • Peter Vanderberg
        • John Sweet
        • Daniel von der Embse
        • Rebecca Dutsar
        • Sarah Kersey
        • Geramee Hensley
      • Issue 4: January >
        • Stacey Balkun
        • Nolan Liebert
        • Charles Bane Jr.
        • Carly Gordon
        • Yoni Hammer-Kossoy
        • Bryan Harvey
        • Jonathan May
      • Issue 5: February >
        • Meggie Royer
        • I. S. Jones
        • John O'Connor
        • Daniel von der Embse
      • Issue 6: March >
        • Lauren Frament
        • Jordan Jamison
        • Steve Meagher
        • Lauren Milici
        • Emily Alexander
        • Vaishnavi Nathan
      • Issue 7: April >
        • Ace Boggess
        • Emily O'Neill
        • Kayla Wheeler
        • Larry Thacker
        • Jeremy Radin
        • Penn Javden
        • Paul Ferrell
      • Issue 8: May >
        • John Grabski
        • Brennan Bestwick
        • Niles M. Reddick
        • Rich Boucher
        • Steven Dunn
        • Scherezade Siobhan
        • Joseph Lisowski
        • James Fitzgerald
      • Issue 9: June >
        • Clair Dunlap
        • Kristen Arnett
        • Meggie Royer
        • Shannon Austin
        • Matthew Moffett
        • Jacqueline Kharouf
      • Issue 10: July >
        • Alexander Dang
        • Kathy Fish
        • Tiffany McDaniel
        • Leonor Morrow
        • Amy Silverberg
        • Alex Tedesco
      • Issue 11: August >
        • Louis Jenkins
        • Rebecca Harrison
        • Yuan Changming
        • Cathy Ulrich
        • Toti O'Brien
        • Erin Slaughter
      • Issue 12: September >
        • Anis Mojgani
        • Levi Andrew Noe
        • Davon Loeb
        • Paul Beckman
        • Lydia Havens
        • William Butler
        • Robert A. Kaufman
    • YEAR TWO >
      • Issue 13: October >
        • R. G. Evans
        • John Pistelli
        • Hannah Brown
        • Carl Boon
        • Christine Nichols
        • Joshua Robert Long
      • Issue 14: November >
        • Rushda Rafeek
        • John Grabski
        • Naima Woods
        • Peter Burzynski
        • Kathleen Radigan
      • Issue 15: December >
        • Jane Rosenberg LaForge
        • Darren C. Demaree
        • Prerna Bakshi
      • Issue 16: January >
        • Daniel Lynch
        • Lena Ziegler
        • Charles Freeland
        • GJ Hart
      • Issue 17: February >
        • Ignacio Peña
        • Kara McMullen
        • Abigail Marshall
        • Carol Park
        • Rob Hill
      • Issue 18: March >
        • Maggie Graber
        • Abigail George
        • Nazifa Islam
        • Matthew Moffett
      • Issue 19: April >
        • Steve Slavin
        • Olivia Grayson
        • Kristin Roedell
        • Roisin Kelly
      • Issue 20: May >
        • Michael Bartelt
        • Hannah Jane Pearson
        • William James
        • Mitchell Grabois
      • Issue 21: June >
        • Marina Carreira
        • Wade Bentley
        • Jen Howard
      • Issue 22: July >
        • Zebulon Huset
        • Vivian Hua
        • Stelth Ulvang
        • Henry Goldkamp
      • Issue 23: August >
        • Ron Gibson
        • Colleen Rich
        • Jefferson Navicky
        • Mehrnoosh Torbatnejad
        • Simon Perchik
      • Issue 24: September >
        • Sally J. Johnson
        • Lewis Mundt
        • April Vázquez
        • Emma Hutson
    • YEAR THREE >
      • Issue 25: October >
        • Peter Weltner
        • Nicholas Morris
        • Ola Faleti
        • Phoebe Nicholson
      • Issue 26: November >
        • Effy Fritz
        • Maxwell Radwin
        • David Atkinson
        • Eddy Jordan
      • Issue 27: December >
        • Jon Bennett
        • Stephanie Valente
        • Leigh Cheak
      • Issue 28: January >
        • Adrienne Novy
        • John Grabski
        • Fay Sachpatzidis
        • Paulie Lipman
        • Sarah David
      • Issue 29: February >
        • Ron Gibson Jr.
        • Amanda Kabak
        • Travis Naught
        • Allen Forrest
        • Susan Monaghan
      • Issue 30: March >
        • Hannah Larrabee
        • ​Lino Anunciacion
        • Karese Burrows
        • Reneé Bibby
        • Liz Howard
        • Kalani Pickhart
      • Issue 31: April >
        • Nina Murray
        • Daniel Blokh
        • Benjamin Harnett
        • Wheeler Light
      • Issue 32: May >
        • Kristen M. Ploetz
        • Terry Ann Wright
        • Craig Loomis
        • Thaddeus Rutkowski
      • Issue 33: June >
        • Ailish Woollett
        • Nandini Dhar
        • Alex Ivey
        • Hazem Fahmy
        • Jennifer Moore
      • Issue 34: July >
        • Christine No
        • Sarah Destin
        • Claire Hopple
        • Maura Lee Bee
      • Issue 35: August >
        • Luisana Cortez
        • Aza Pace
        • Carrie Chappell
        • Adam Lock
      • Issue 36: September >
        • Jill Mceldowney
        • Leon Kortenkamp
        • Sarah Jones
        • Darren Demaree
    • YEAR FOUR >
      • Issue 37: October >
        • Hannah Stone
        • William Doreski
        • Sarah Wetzel
        • C. T. Salazar
      • Issue 38: November >
        • Kristen Ploetz
        • Stephanie Rael
        • Brittany Frederick
        • Jay Sheets
        • Andy Cashmore
      • Issue 39: December >
        • Taylor Mali
        • Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz
        • John Williams
        • Iskandar Haggarty
        • Donald Hubbard
        • Kenneth Otani
        • Alex Miller
      • SPRING >
        • Simon Perchik
        • Lino Anunciacion
        • Colleen Rich
        • Donia Mounsef
        • Nitzan Meltzer Watman
        • Ann Hillesland
        • DJ Swykert
      • SUMMER >
        • Cynthia X. Hua
        • Heidi Seaborn
        • Daniel Nester
        • Ginnah Howard
        • Jonathan Bracker
      • FALL >
        • William James
        • Laura Bentley
        • Ally Ang
        • Kurt Luchs
        • Joanna Hoffman
      • Winter >
        • Danny Caine
        • Emma Wang
        • Maria McLeod
        • Darren Demaree
        • Susan J. Mitchell
      • SPRING >
        • Sandra Kolankiewicz
        • Michael O'Neill
        • Lino Anunciacion
        • Katherine Fallon
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  • Contact
  • Harpoon Books