NY Tyrant
102 FOLLOWERS
Tyrant Books and New York Tyrant are a small press and a literary magazine based in Hell's Kitchen, NYC.
NY Tyrant
3y ago
1991
January 11
Mari, Papa, and I, with you in my tummy, went to California, to visit family and old friends, from December 17, 1990, through January 7. Your due date was February 6, so we came back about a month before. I was thinking you might pop out while we were in California, but it was good that you remained where you were.
I was taking a training course to be a simultaneous translator then and was hoping that you would be born after February 10th to maintain my required attendance.
So looking forward to the moment of meeting you.
February 12
Our midwife ..read more
NY Tyrant
3y ago
On the back of his bike, doing 80 on the highway, I considered letting go, just to ruin his life.
My arms around his waist were the only thing restraining me. But I knew it wouldn’t ruin his life. Not even close.
The blur of the billboards and the desiccated chollas and the cars we dodged got blurrier. I tightened my grip.
*
Dad taught me how to shoot pool when I was twelve, insisting that I get good at it, telling me it was important. “You live by the cock, you die by the cock, I’ve always said.” I nodded like I understood.
“I never fucked ..read more
NY Tyrant
3y ago
A pickup truck with
‘Lake Michigan Pest Control’ on it
passed me by
and I reflexively jumped into fighting stance.
There are days when
leaving the cage feels great
but nothing beats getting back in.
Closing the door yourself
smiling.
Already decorated
already smelling like you.
What’s your favorite TV show.
And here we have,
un-imagining the things
tying me to the chair
at your tea party.
And here we see
the only fix for some things
is to let them be buried naturally
over thousands of years
as multiple civilizations
rise and fall
over the same area.
Where eventually
someone finds ..read more
NY Tyrant
3y ago
The following is an excerpt from A Completely Nonexistent Carnival by Cavin Bryce Gonzalez, available for pre-order here.
Went outside and stood in my front yard.
Waited to hear something.
See something.
Feel anything.
Waited for reality to prove itself.
Gravitated naturally toward the gutter.
Heard sewage down there.
Crouched down, peeked my head inside.
Felt at home for the first time in a long time.
Saw some beady eyes staring back at me.
Heard a squeak.
Smiled.
I made a cake for the rats outside my house.
These rats are ve ..read more
NY Tyrant
3y ago
Obligatory Orgy Poem
polished wedding ring
satin bodysuit
mink lashes
glued by a girl
at Sephora
who airbrushed my face
for free
you want to be the hottest one
she said and thanks to her I felt
contoured masked
lashed
to the yacht
the skyline
rough waters and
watered drinks
straddling in a corner
singing
happy birthday
my seasick love
pretend it’s just us
and when another man’s hand
reaches
for mine
no
I never want to hold it
&nb ..read more
NY Tyrant
3y ago
What life is this
I didn’t know it would feel so much like living on a moon colony
that I’d vacuum up so many dead ladybugs
and get really into classical music
that I’d strut around the graveyard
in what people would call pajamas
who knew show and tell would go on foreverthat I’d see videos of all my friends but never see them
paintings rot in basements
wild monkeys take over an old movie theater
I eat an ice cream sandwich on my bed
happiness is elusive but it does something before it dissolves
I think about animals who’ve never seen a person and never will
potentia ..read more
NY Tyrant
3y ago
When I think about you in prison, so medicated
you couldn’t hold anything
in, I want to kick the guards’ teeth
in with my bare feet. And when
I cough and you cower
I realize what I want
is not revenge but a new planet.
Do we have to die to get there?
Your dog farting on the floor,
the sky turns white around us.
The post Aubade appeared first on NY Tyrant ..read more
NY Tyrant
3y ago
The following poems are from THE NEW WORLD, Kelly Schirmann’s new book, available now from Black Ocean.
THE NEW WORLD
The New World arrived
when we were unconscious
It laid on top of the Old World
like vellum paper
and showed us what we’d done
There was no one to blame
because everyone was an institution
and therefore subject to rules
There were many new documents
we felt compelled to sign
There was still fresh juice
though we regarded it skeptically
The New World shined
brighter / and was
Red became a color
for the first time in decades ..read more
NY Tyrant
3y ago
Matters of All Orders
She put the glass on the desk with too much force and juice splashed out.
Tth — she said, licking her pointer and middle fingers and looking at what spilled.
She went for napkins from the kitchen, but there were none, so she used a sweatshirt from the dirty laundry.
Laundry, she sang.
Laundry, something sang back.
She sat up straight, the small of her back suddenly beginning to sweat. The small hairs on her nearly bald head stood up too. Did it come from outside ..read more
NY Tyrant
3y ago
The following excerpt is from ALICE KNOTT, Blake Butler’s new novel, available now from Riverhead Books.
At New York’s MoMA, Henri Rousseau’s The Dream (1910) is attacked with a straight razor by a local college professor of physics, who after screaming “I am the fuck of your reality” stabs the image of a full moon in the painting’s upper right-hand corner eleven times before restraint. A video, less viral than prior efforts, circulates briefly, showing police beating the man into submission as he attempts to struggle free, screaming over and over for his mother by her first name.
And ..read more