Catfish and After

By Gene Hult

I can't prove anything he says.

Some cyber-psychos deliberately deceive. Catfish is a long poem about being in love with an ideal but fraudulent man on a chat app. After is an imagist cycle of poetry about psychic, creative, and romantic reconstruction in the aftermath.

Scrolling thr

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brighten Press
• Release date: Oct 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9781733538015

Gene Hult

Gene Hult is a writer, teacher, photographer, and publisher. He worked in children's editorial in NYC for nearly 30 years. Gene has written more than 125 books published for children and young adults, mostly under his pseudonym J. E. Bright (jebright.com). His books of poetry include Render, Catfish and After, and the forthcoming Ades Fidelis. Please visit genehult.com, or follow Gene on Twitter and Instagram @citysqwirl.

Book preview

Catfish

and After

Gene Hult

Houston

2019

Copyright © 2019 by Gene Hult

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner or media whatsoever without the permission of the publisher or author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or academic essay.

First Edition, 2019

ISBN 978-1-7335380-1-5 (ebook)

ISBN 978-1-7335380-0-8 (paperback)

Brighten Press

Houston, Texas

[e-mail]

www.brightenpress.com

Cover image manipulated from a drawing by Léonard Baldner, 1666.

Seizure first appeared in You Can Hear the Ocean: An Anthology of Classic and Current Poetry.

Gifts first appeared in the anthology A Few More Winter Tales.

Catfish

and After

Contents

Catfish

After

Supplies

Brood

Gracious

Laurel

Western

Nothing

Iterate

Hike

Merge

Nineteen

Seizure

Closer

Omen

Scratch

Hard

Shelter

Bandy

Bronzed

Drift

Best

Motion

Exurb

Sophist

Privy

Knoll

Gifts

Coast

About the Author

Catfish

for Colin

Let him have his secrets.

Glimpsed release from solitude

constricted by jealousy’s petty tang,

accounting for grinding seconds

we remain unmet.

Even no phone number

or last name, I trust

in genuine self-protection

for listening laughter.

Deflection shudders greed

of possession, parity of imaginary

slights, disconnection distraction.

Gagging on magnitude,

what I would lose.

Message me when you’re home.

What are you, deaf?

What will you wear

on our first date,

a wifebeater?

How hoary, vexed by text,

in query suspension; communication

otherwise easy, extraordinary.

All unconfirmed,

alternative earworms.

Midtown architect,

industrial fraternity

bluster and muscle, but mute

by prideful declaration.

Goateed and too tall,

deprecatingly depressive,

enticingly negative,

photos of physical exuberance

with bristled beauty,

believably introverted

in knockabout silence.

Clean cobwebs, decals

of no confidence molder

in cold storage.

More barred

increases invasivity.

Only impertinent asks

add echoes of ulterior motives

should’ve slid as snuck subtext.

Tease me as you agree.

Refusal may imply betrayal

on boundaries of kind,

imposing permissible

to shelter in muddy eddy.

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Coughing skinniness

tinged with stifled acids.

You enjoy me,

so let’s meet,

expose yourself

to my thirst.

I exceed interest

in your difference.

Inoperable fused cochlea

complements my misophonia.

Honest person,

answer all questions.

I might lie,

but remain unasked.

Detached, dangling

fetishized testicles.

My historical careless causality

of bated waiting frightens me,

fitting myself.

First name, middle name,

obsessing over withheld, hinted last:

truncated, common, Irish.

Flipping photos of curly dog,

chocolates of approval,

astounding endowment,

kayak at purple