A poem by Lauren Hunter

We’re happy to continue presenting work from our readers at the upcoming Augury Books & Friends offsite AWP reading/shindig in Seattle. The reading will be at Noble Neon, 3130 Airport Way S on Friday, February 28th from 7:30 until we all feel like going back to our hotels. If you’ll be in Seattle, please join us!

Photo by Dave Bledsoe of FreeVerse Photography

BE CAREFUL WITH THAT

tried to make a map out of you

sugar, thought you’d be a simple machine

to manipulate. i put my hands on the stars

daily, tracking burns down the stairs. you have

a lot of nervous intentions. we could be dolphins,

fireworks like us splashing against the northern sky.

what would i want? transparency. a little weightlessness,

some pools of oil refracting the entire reach of

“up there.” out here, no trees or rooftops framing the view

and i like that. like if i stood up, all of heaven’d crash

down around us. and don’t you wish.

Lauren Hunter is from North Carolina and lives in Brooklyn. She received her MFA in poetry from The New School and works with the team at Telephone Books as their Managing Editor. Lauren is the co-founder/curator of the Electric Pumas, a reading series/revolution in New York City. Her chapbook, My Own Fires, was released by Brothel Books in 2011.