no baby but the poem is about you by Kamden Hilliard

no baby but the poem is about you

Kamden Hilliard

_______ after Hart Crane's "Voyages"

i.
hello          may i question your volcanoes, [island dream boat boy]?
the molten melting      space / town / roads / auntie
sometimes on your volcanic isle       all is related to destruction
a'a is a craggle     crinkle of the drummer boy's tin
               lava     and boy do i need it / i mean someone like you / i mean you!
how else may i love           if not by knowing the urbane legends?

even Manoa Falls must have some noise
for eating teh motherfucking wheaties this morning
turning up and into the world

water and lava with the boomdestroy
a flash

the glory of another iPhone rushing down the riverrun
pulse gurgle selfie drown

ii.
thats all im saying here out playing
the pentecostal glaze of terror
my parents must know this breath and love
is a decision to live with
or perhaps without

iii.
i am sorry, [island dream boat boy]
but please show me your fences and signs
how much diamond blood is swaying within?
i beg at you boy torso black sand dusted

open your eyes doors let me innnnnn please
we can nail the shades to the frame finally
get some sleep

iv.
but theres always the ocean
theres a reason to leave the office early
make use of a bookmark

i will always want it
i mean you
                                             hydro-energy-muscle
                                             roaring a rotted coconut
                                             down on the boulder     for maybe me /maybe impression

all strength is love

v.
why and me
with my investigations and industrial light bulbs?

where were you the night of july 22?;
if you were a beach which beach would you be?;
if you had to leave me would you?

i still remember:
Hercules dove to the underworld for love     but
who could ghostbust a demigod?
contain and commit     to the basic insanity of love
how may the perfect stay mortal     with me?

vi.
[dream island boy] you terrify me when i think of intensity
i prepare for the apocalypse spooling in the shell of sleep

and you already cooked breakfast before the syrup
and you sliding down the beach barrel twist torso browning

this love is a tax: sand and so many dress shirts still beveled
with ocean salt

vii.
yes the great wink of eternity you david bowie of the beach
bums i am proud blessed by your attention to assemblage

[island dream boat buyout] i mean [island dream boat boy]
to know anything is to tolerate

the undifferentiated is simply a waiting room for that
which is not yet wrong but patiently waiting its turn

/////.

you know me too well
extra screw / wrong floor / another allergy forgotten

but consider
i love you more than decent thai food

and if thats not commitment im shit outta product
i wait for please babe one more set to end
so we can argue about the now three open
restaurants

though who needs thai when i can get fullsick on you?

Kamden Hilliard Kamden Hilliard is a poet/essayist running through Hawaii, New York, and Hong Kong with his woes. A recipient of fellowships from Callaloo and The Davidson Institute for Talent Development, Kamden is trying so hard. In the past he's been an editor of The Adroit Journal, Dark Phrases, and The Sarah Lawrence Review. Rumor has it, he's a contributor for Elite Daily and recipient of the 2015 Stanley and Evelyn Lipkin Prize for Poetry. His work has appeared in (or will drift into) Juked, Two Bridges Review, Bodega, The Atlas Review, Jellyfish Magazine, The Sakura Review, and other lovely places. If Kamden wasn’t writing, he’d be very sad—or a scientist.

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