Loosen Cogs
Gardens
Gravel & Glass
I envision layers of affronts & exaggerations—
working like mirrors— watching disaffection creep in
w/ sleepwalking debs & beaus
we’re way past unstable in this glass palace
& the spectacle of panic spreading across faded homecoming sets
fluctuates like vowels of loose laughter/jumpy notice
of threat under breath—
a slow metastatic aspersion crossing moments of hesitancy
& doubt lurching into twiddling moralities like our worn teeth—
casualties of agitation—the broken jewelry of our smiles
becoming a law of averages:
there is always an occasion to spend the night peering into corners
an alarm clock & a plan on approach against the dark map of sky
murmuring the broad strokes of carving wounds
the oblong line of forms found in a pile of gravel & glass:
a drawl/a cry /the smell of anger
scatter hot & blind through closed eyes— courtesy of love
split into three versions of catching a dead rose for an audience of one
Adam Stutz is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Broken Lens Journal, co-host of the Broken Lens Podcast, and a neurodivergent poet. He is the author of Transcript (Cooper Dillon Books, 2017), The Scales (White Stag Publishing, 2018), The Sham Tapestry (White Stag Publishing, 2024), and Compunctions + Thefts (White Stag Publishing, 2024). His work has appeared in various print and online publications including The Equalizer: Second Series, A Sharp Piece of Awesome, Prelude, Be About It, Deluge, Dum Dum Zine, The Pinch, Dodging the Rain, Where is the River, Dream Pop, Cover, Ghost Proposal, Columba Poetry, INKSOUNDS, Spectra Poets, Trilobite, hush: a journal of noise, and others. He currently resides in Los Angeles, CA. His work can also be found at https://stutzwrites.com.