in parentheses

Currently pursuing an M.F.A. in creative writing at The New School, Andreas Nussbaumer is a Swiss-Texan poet residing in New York City. He has been awarded an honorary mention for the 2023 Paul Violi Prize and the 91st annual Writer’s Digest writing competition. He has been published in Aberration Labyrinth.

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Prices

The Van Gogh
At the local bodega
Is on sale
For 20% off

They are also selling plots
Of land
On Europa
For one dollar
Per square foot

And on the shelves
In the back
Mummified limbs
Of religious prophets
Go for $4.49
Plus tax

“The economy
Ain’t what it used to be,”
Says the treasurer
Of the neighborhood Girl Scouts committee
Standing on a penny
Smoking a cigarette

Moving-In

Inspecting the colander
I realize I’m dead asleep.
It’s clear I’m dreaming. There
is a miasma coming from the kitchen
sink—a summoning of sorts.
Naturally, a portal opens and
a demon walks out, holding a clipboard.
“How can I help you,” I ask. “You
can’t,” he says. I go back
to inspecting the colander; a fuzz
has formed. I leave it. The demon stares
at the kitchen light and takes notes.
He seems very busy.
I don’t want to bother him
so I climb into the fridge. The
capaciousness astonishes me. Surely
roomier than the entire rest
of my apartment. Sleepy,
I climb into a bag of flour
tortillas and tuck myself
snugly in.

After Le Radeau de la Méduse

It doesn’t help to know the details—
Even in these microcosmos the second law triumphs.

Hope can only hold those whose teeth have sunk as deep into flesh as the ship’s wreck,
The ship now a makeshift bundle of half-lives and impossible decisions.

They call cannibalism the custom of the sea,
Though the waves cast all lots before you’ll know you’ve already drawn your own.

And how can the sea pose for a portrait? In its textured tumult and restless hunger.
Perhaps the painter paints with a Medusa brush, perhaps

Temporality is only temporary and if asked nicely tragedy will sit still
For the sake of art

And its patrons. As you know
History isn’t kind to those who die on lost time.

What might be the length of one green shark
Stretches well past the crests of this ceaseless surf.

A man named neither Joseph nor The Father clutches his dead son,
Naked as the white flag waving at the peach-black heavens.

And amid the tenebrous dreck of madness, cracked bitumen, grit:
A pupil-wide window opens, fit for one.

A Terrible Thing Happened

I had a thought the other day;
it nearly startled me to death.
I’d never experienced anything
quite like it. The only reason I knew
what it was is because I decided
to ask a close friend about it (a
computational neuroscientist and flautist).
“Hmm,” he said, “I’m afraid it sounds like
you suffered a thought. It will very likely happen
again, and continue to do so
roughly until senility or death. Sadly
there isn’t much we can do about it.
You’ll have to learn to live with it—
chronic conditions like this can
only ever be managed. There is no cure.
The next time it happens, give me a call,
I’ll talk you through next steps. Externalizing
the thought is known to help—it’s one of
the few known ways to reduce the pain.
Preliminary studies suggest exercise
can alleviate some of the symptoms, but
the jury is still out on that one.

By the way,
whatever you do, absolutely do not
let it watch informercials. It’ll kill you.”

Self-help

Forget everything you know
about contract law and the Chesterfield skink.
Continue to reframe every piece of art
you encounter in the bordello (replace
the last word with imbroglio and ditch
any diction associated with almanacs).
It’s important to hold yourself
to impossible standards. Embrace loved ones
often via ambush—with surprise on your side
you can’t lose. When in doubt
collect your old love letters and
if you don’t have old love letters then spill ink
like it’s milk—level of requitedness is irrelevant,
it’s the exercise itself that matters most. Search frantically
for the deed of your house. If you don’t
own a house then buy one now. If you can’t
afford a house then make more money.
If you can’t make more money then get a better job.
If a better job eludes you then enter into organized crime.
I know a guy. His name’s Jimmy, he’ll set you right up.
Just tell him I sent you
and thank yourself later.

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