Becca Klaver

People Are Saying Things Again

people are saying things about
Canada & France & Argentina

maybe los desaparecidos = us
quizás, quizás, quizás. . . .

maybe the host grandma
calling me pura americana

maybe The Island School
maybe baby

it’s time to zip up yr bags
& come home

to my folk song
where the nights are felted

with plenty of gutters
to do the catchwork

while I smash my cheek
hot to the window

to show the world
I care what’s next

WE CROSSED the vast exurban plain
We went to the big box down the lane
It was general
There were provisions available
We went to the big box for to find us a pony
We could no longer see anything
we weren’t looking for
Every day in every way
We went to the general store

The Machine Does End

I say to the tinny beeps in the houseâ

my friend is not here, nor do I have any
further information

and you may not train your spyglass

on my dreams

Becca Klaver is the author of the poetry collection LA Liminal (Kore Press, 2010) and the chapbooks Inside a Red Corvette: A 90s Mix Tape (greying ghost, 2009), Merrily, Merrily (forthcoming, Lame House), and Nonstop Pop (forthcoming, Bloof). With Andrew Koszewski, she wrote Seer / Sucka (Dusie, 2011). Becca has a BA from the University of Southern California and an MFA from Columbia College Chicago, and is currently a PhD candidate at Rutgers University, where she is writing a dissertation on experimental women’s poetry, feminism, and the everyday. She co-founded Switchback Books and serves on the Outreach Committee for VIDA: Women in Literary Arts. Born and raised in Milwaukee, WI, she now lives in Brooklyn, NY.