Tyler Smith

This is a Question

So much since we last spoke –
a proper pot of coffee,
a bowl with two rotten avocados
atop the windowsill,
the teen punk breathing
on my space suit’s face mask
and fingering an A with a circle
around it while I’m trying to drive
to the city, to the unmarked headstone
and place a ghost orchid back
in its real orchid.
I make a wrong turn
into the riverbed where a Viking ship
unmoors above in sudden water.
It’s taking you downtown.
When you arrive at the Chinatown
Chinese restaurant it’s closed,
but the door still opens to a swank cocktail bar.
This is how your life is.
Inside your closet, a robot union.
In your police station, clown school.
Inside your wolf, a smaller wolf,
and in that one, a locket made of wood.
There are initials carved by an eagle feather.
There’s a bee on the phone.
Answer it.

Tyler Smith is from Rochester, NY and currently lives in the Bay Area. He plays bass in the band Polar Bear Club.