art and poetry journal – 2021

Arden Wohl

Sulzberger on Vacation

Sulzberger on vacation
at mercy of zombie editor
sleepwalking past the row of soda can tabs
like a daisy chain
the contour(s) of infinity
each structure primarily maintained by
the profilers
mounds that raise the embankment
buildings without power
children trading
teenagers pickin’ the weeds

the concrete bandshell silhouettes
my friend’s AA meeting
while we all stand reticent

forget the storm surge
at the core of it
the foundation
the cornerstone
with a sick nucleus

ok, enough with the outlines

the substance is water
and it mixes with
Screed

in the business of garbage?
can you make sense of the fallow surplus?

I will hold your contract

spill the debris and make another fresh kill
You sign it and sentence

so am I an outlier or a seed blowing on the
East River?
refusing to transplant
sloppily, slipping between establishments

oh how I hate order and
pArtOcracy
Just let me die in the red tape

bury me in the contaminant-filled meadow
just a few blocks from La Mama

Arden Wohl is a poet, artist, and designer working widely across disciplines and communities. Her work has been shared in Live Mag, Poetry Project’s Recluse Magazine and in events at The Hole, La MaMa, Recess, among other places. She has organized poetry events at 56 Henry and Tibet House. She holds a degree in Film & Television Studies from NYU Tisch and has shared short films in connection with The Art Production Fund. As a board member of GEMS, junior board member of Tibet House, and as an advocate for a range of causes, she helps to build bridges between artists, writers, and activists moving through a breadth of fields and practices. A proud lifelong New Yorker with Jewish heritage, Arden lives with her husband and son in the East Village of NYC.