Poet: Matthew Savoca, Philadelphia, PA
Smalldoggies Poetry Feature #14: Matthew Savoca, Philadelphia, PA
+++
poem
i'm falling asleep in public again
with my headphones
and my jacket on, but unzipped
it's cold outside, i'm alone
and desperate
don't laugh at me!
on the train ride home i want to have fun
thinking about killing myself
but the guy next to me wants to talk
about hip hop from the seventies
“am i bothering you,” he asks,
“by talking too much?”
out the window the sun looks at trucks
i pick my nose
and think about touching you,
how it's become a pattern
the reeds look like they're waiting
for something to begin,
a scary movie maybe,
and i remember you on grass,
how excited we were not to be
sleeping together yet
later i put my nose to your armpit
because you said it was like onions
but all i smelled was sweat
the night i take a shit in your bathroom
at three in the morning, when life is hard
if you're awake,
we make light of the urge
to throw ourselves into traffic
i think of your thinking spot
how pretty it is above the bridge
at night with all the taillights
of slowly moving cars and trucks
you cry into the dark of the room
then use my hand to cup your genitals
and it feels nice to be protecting you
but quickly turns to something else
and in the morning i put a piece of paper
in my pocket
+++
towards the end of april, 2010
lounging on the couch drinking some kind of beverage
i just ate lunch – quinoa salad with corn, olives, tomatoes
and feta cheese... that almost makes it greek
there isn't anything i have to do today or tomorrow
or any day in the foreseeable future except wake up whenever
i feel like it, and then masturbate while still in bed
it makes breakfast so much more necessary
after which i relax on the couch until lunch
or sometimes go outside but only for a short while
unless i take one of those really long walks
on which i end up comparing everyone i see's ass
to everyone else's and then make my way back home
for dinner after which i lounge on the couch
until it's time for bed where i lie in the darkness
with my eyes closed, choosing the best ass i can imagine
and then imagining it near me
+++
poem
success is measured
somehow
i don't know
the library cafe
has some decent cookies
but i have to stay there
to eat one
outside the library
other stuff is happening
the window is there
quietly showing me
without passing judgment
the people on the street
not saying anything about them
not saying they look
dreadful
the window isn't worried at all
about the people on the street
but back inside
a man says “banana nut muffin”
a little too loudly
and something strange
happens to the room
+++
Matthew Savoca was born in 1982 in Pennsylvania. He is the author of the poetry book Long Love Poem with Descriptive Title (Scrambler Books 2010) and two forthcoming collections: Morocco co-authored with Kendra Grant Malone (Dark Sky Books 2011) and Oh Well (Ravenna Press 2011).
Matthew really likes animals.
Find out more about Matthew Savoca at his official website.