These otisi were culled from the facebook page. To found out what is an otis, click this.
these, second, stake, careful, songs, hide, I, bed, remain, reaming, lashing, fun
Did the cottonwoods
spill criminals names to
summer before it commenced?
Whose throat was clattering
against the flap that kept far
wilderness out of reach? Only hints
boiling utterances in air, an
infection of swilling eyes beside
an old dry rail road track. Boots
milling dust, dust issuing throat to throat,
busy thieving barreled touch, hoping
their mug shots would miss the circuit.
-Andrea Robison
call, smoke, parading, coyote, light, dawn, scrawny, fevering, path, erected, ear, count
you can call the gulf between yourself and the other
a wound or a ladder or smoke and mirrors,
but really, you’re just parading
the coyote
on a leash of light
at dawn.
poor scrawny thing,
mangy and fevering, clawing
the path with his crooked paw.
look, here is the city your mind erected.
it has nothing to do with your ear,
or ability to count.
-Otis Nebula
linger, up, thoughts, shrimp, value, rubber, babble, shelf, better, slight, glass, with
you don’t linger (you can resist
a pause, not a halt) else you might move up and out,
thoughts blown like dandelions across the bay
then caught fast in a shrimp net—
see, we know the value of a day
and time is a soft, forbidding rubber
you babble. or the tide. it’s not important.
your shelf holds neatly folded things
and you’re better when the day tilts toward dusk
slight shoulders drooping,
leaning towards your clutched glass
whiskey with a splash of heart
-Beth Ayer
resist, else, across, net, see, soft, important, holds, when, shoulders, towards, splash
You resist, I'll cease.
Get out or else get used
To life across a lawn chair
From an ape. Net yourself
Someone you can see
In the soft light of twenty years
As important.
What holds
You here, when
Your shoulders rise
Without your hips leaving the chair?
What puddle takes a foot without a splash?
-Andrew Baron
cease, used, life, ape, someone, light, as, what, here, your, leaving, without
my unemployment benefits cease(d)
i used to claim them online, like, every sunday
that was life, more or less,
i dragged my computer around like an ape.
then someone came
out of the light they stood.
as to what brought 'em there I did not know
naturally, I asked, what brought you here?
I came for your sake, which is enough.
and now I am leaving,
with or without.
-Quyen H. Falk
benefits, online, less, dragged, came, out, 'em, naturally, sake, now, with
The Eleven Word Otis?
What were the benefits of lizard living,
ordering your books on-line
for less,
dragged out of bed
only when the postman came,
going out the boudoir door, slowly,
to get em?
Naturally, you grew a little rough in face,
and for the sake of health and cake
you now live wisely,
hidden in a shoebox with a jogging snake.
-Seth Crook
lizard, books, less, dragged, postman, slowly, get, little, cake, wisely, shoebox, eleven
We do not fear the Father of the Glaciers
as if he were a giant lizard,
destroyer of our secret books.
We are not less beneath him
or spirits dragged across the ice. He's nice.
He's just the postman of our most ordinary fears,
tottering, slowly, set intent,
who'll get us in the end, each day
a little closer, inching on,
nibbling at the chilly cake,
who wisely takes the highest road,
keeps no shoes just for the shoebox,
smiles eleven days out of twelve.
-Seth Crook
giant, destroyer, less, nice, most, set, day, closer, chilly, who, shoes, twelve
Giant claws with his nine hearts beating, scratching
his objections into the grey of my canvas, destroyer
of a peace left unrealized, less from any conviction
than fury - a nice neat rage behind the scenes.
Most hours I struggle 'gainst his breathing,
set into my lungs, our rhythms never meeting.
A good day he'll shrivel to a tiny pit of forgetfulness,
closer to mindless ant than example of contentedness.
All nights it's chilly even as the sweat drips . . . . . .
(who would sculpt a creature's lair into their own skin--)
Time's shoes worn to a dark cloth beneath my feet
(twelve moons x five +158 suns = 1,984 but who's counting~~~~ )
-Diane Cambern