“Stars are shredding machines” and “From my mother’s sleep” are new poems by Christian Hawkey. They appear in PEN America 10: Fear Itself.

Stars are shredding machines

Stars are shredding machines. Light
a form of credit. We are born bathed in debt.
A linguoid is a tongue-shaped human. Literal
littoral zones: sand between toes, which feels delicious
if only because the space between one’s toes
is rarely experienced by toes. Knees, the body’s
most complex joint, are sites of translation.
I talk to who I want. Guten Tag Herr Gutenberg.
The invention of movable type was inspired by his
close observation of clouds, how when you look away
they rearrange themselves in the sky, how you
look rearranged when in the sky, how they when
in the sky rearrange how you look & how,
when you look down, the sky throws itself back together.

From my mother's sleep

11:18

from my mother’s sleep i fell into the market.
trading was heavy. i was traded. diodes bright
with numbers—i felt nothing—pulled hard along a
screen. then the dream cut loose from sleep; i woke
to find it above me, watching me, wherefrom i tried to ask
whereto or why or love but the auction was continuous
hands, i looked down, they were gone, i said hands.

12:01

Reprinted with permission of Christian Hawkey. All rights reserved.