CARTOGRAPHIC NUMBSKULLS
Editor’s Note: Mound City Messenger will be featuring poetry and short stories by local authors. Submissions can be emailed to editorial@moundcitymessenger.com for consideration.
CARTOGRAPHIC NUMBSKULLS
Brett Lars Underwood
Knowing that the butt
is aflame
after the failure of journalism
in a cool, stiff rain
under a broken limb
in a foreign forest
of man-made guilt
It is nice
to walk the sidewalks
of a broken world
of misspelled verbs
and broken promises
After a meal
of unscrambled segues
and dog food
amidst the babble
of the diner attendants
in dreams
and unimaginative dolts
at full throttle
or a view of the wet
slick streets alive with oil
and broken neon
It is nice
to walk home
through the corpses
and have a quiet and lonely
wank and fall silently
asleep on a dirty carpet
of comfort knowing
the rent is due
the seed is spent
the credit is ill advised
until the next Googlemaps
nightmare to get to that place
of awakening a defecation
taste in the parking
lot could not care less.
A version of “Cartographic Numbskulls” was published in MUSHARONA (2020, Kung Fu Treachery Press).
Brett Lars Underwood is a St. Louis poet and promoter. His third book, GATEWAY TO MUSH will be published on Spartan Press soon.
Want to hear conversations with St. Louis Poets? Seek out Underwood’s podcast, “HIGH ABOVE GRAND” on Spotify. Purchase his books locally at Dunaway Books, Subterranean Books, and Spine Indie Bookstore & Café (@spinebookstorecafe) • Instagram photos and videos
Contact Underwood: brettlarsunderwood@gmail.com
Brett Underwood (@brettlarsunderwood) • Instagram photos and videos
