Jessie Janeshek's second full-length book of poems, The Shaky Phase, is forthcoming from Stalking Horse Press. Her chapbooks are Spanish Donkey/Pear of Anguish (Grey Book Press), Rah-Rah Nostalgia (dancing girl press), and Hardscape (Reality Beach, forthcoming). Invisible Mink (Iris Press) is her first full-length collection, and you can read more of her poetry at jessiejaneshek.net.
2 poems by Jessie Janeshek
Infant Mortality. Compulsive Therapy.
I park my lamb and my sobs
at Lighthouse Church of God. Indigo’s scanty.
Sights start to get interesting.
The man in the lot’s doing hot-air push-ups
some cosmic relief.
I kissed his dog once (it was all bones)
threw my shoe against windows
in lieu of abortion
drop-kicked the RV’s lumpy fridge like a liver.
I hate you today, done, pulled apart
a sunchild assassin.
You wish I’d make time
for your manmade lake
before the man in the van
comes to get me?
I’m not your doctor but travel safe.
Is this what you want me to say, sedentary?
The man with the cowskull
says take water warm
this time of year. Don’t bathe in the river.
The winged cowboy leans
on aluminum cacti.
I give up drinking
line my sequined pills
start righting my idols
fall asleep draped on the heater.
Dead on the Water, Vegas Edition
Your faux-closeness starts pawing my face.
On guard, I mouth organ
simmer my séance in Venice
as cacophonous blondes
span the fake pines
that circle the patio
where the housewife is foaming
with preacherman’s rabies
wringing her legs. I disappear
let your slot-machine rat give me solace
since nothing I have left
trusts this path