Celebrate 30 years of the OA.

With original work from Imani Perry, Kristen Arnett, Diane Roberts, and so many others, our Spring Issue honors our past and looks into our expansive future.

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Seek & Destroy

 

It is such a tragedy, all this 
Working. The vacation 
I need is on your mark, 
Get set, go. It’s been years 
Since I’ve seen the light 
Of day. Move over cruise 
Control, ungut yourself 
Quiet desperation. If you 
Have a question about 
My resignation, please 
Submit it to the toilet that 
Sits on the scabby front 
Lawn. You say stay classy. 
I say blessed oracle, tell 
Me what goodness will 
Next arrive? The permit 
I have to King Kong up 
On any roof in town 
Reads Extremely Dangerous, 
Lifetime Guarantee. Sizzle, 
Sizzle, my palms sing 
When I spit in them. 
My long-term investment 
Plan is diversified: ching, 
Ching with pixie dust 
Sprinkled on top & long 
Baths in a wickedness 
That a couple of times 
A month I might shower 
Off. There will be a ton 
Of spectacular, a whole 
Lot of putting assholes 
In sleeper holds. This 
Is the way it is going to 
Go. Tapping strangers’ 
Shoulders & shouting 
When they turn around. 
Wide-open arms. Back- 
Slapping hugs. Some- 
Where down the road 
I will apply just enough 
Pressure to just slow 
The bleeding & then, 
Before its eyes forever 
Close, that thing you believe 
In will have to say I won. 
 

Alex Lemon reads “Seek & Destroy”

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Alex Lemon

Alex Lemon is the author of four poetry collections: Mosquito, Hallelujah Blackout, Fancy Beasts, and The Wish Book, as well as Happy: A Memoir and Feverland: A Memoir in Shards. A fifth book of poetry is forthcoming from Milkweed Editions. He lives in Fort Worth and teaches at Texas Christian University and in Ashland University’s Low-Residency MFA program.