ADEQUATED (2)

By: Franklin Bruno
June 17, 2017

HILOBROW is pleased to present a series of 27 nine-line poems by our friend and contributor Franklin Bruno. Some have previously appeared, in print or online, in A Perimeter, Brooklyn Rail, Critical Quarterly, and The West Wind Review. This is their first complete publication.

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1,000 SMALL IMPROVEMENTS

Been mispronouncing sputum (to rhyme,
roughly, with shoot ’em) lo these many
years. Waveform analyzed into its
components – crest, trough, cream, scum.
      Mixtape
maudit, peer-to-peer usufruct. Loop
that one section so Pink can nail her
harmony vocal. Apropos a
Prop 8 aporia, is silence
an acquiescence? A resistance?

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TONE PORN

A cinder from a conical spliff
the size of a serving of Belgian
fries can shrink a strip of acetate
to nothing, Robbie Shakespeare fill lost
forever. Agree strongly, agree,
don’t know (no opinion), disagree,
disagree strongly. Bandshell slapback,
vestigial mouthpiece of digital
bugle. Continue to your image.

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RELATABLE

As cosmopolitan locavores
fight in the night, destabilizing
the binary ’tween adolescent
and mature, a 24-roll case
of Seventh Generation toilet
tissue is caused to be delivered
once a fortnight, bourgeois as object
permanence or edge perception, spin
of the frictionless cardstock chore wheel.

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CURATED SERIES at HILOBROW: UNBORED CANON by Josh Glenn | CARPE PHALLUM by Patrick Cates | MS. K by Heather Kasunick | HERE BE MONSTERS by Mister Reusch | DOWNTOWNE by Bradley Peterson | #FX by Michael Lewy | PINNED PANELS by Zack Smith | TANK UP by Tony Leone | OUTBOUND TO MONTEVIDEO by Mimi Lipson | TAKING LIBERTIES by Douglas Wolk | STERANKOISMS by Douglas Wolk | MARVEL vs. MUSEUM by Douglas Wolk | NEVER BEGIN TO SING by Damon Krukowski | WTC WTF by Douglas Wolk | COOLING OFF THE COMMOTION by Chenjerai Kumanyika | THAT’S GREAT MARVEL by Douglas Wolk | LAWS OF THE UNIVERSE by Chris Spurgeon | IMAGINARY FRIENDS by Alexandra Molotkow | UNFLOWN by Jacob Covey | ADEQUATED by Franklin Bruno | QUALITY JOE by Joe Alterio | CHICKEN LIT by Lisa Jane Persky | PINAKOTHEK by Luc Sante | ALL MY STARS by Joanne McNeil | BIGFOOT ISLAND by Michael Lewy | NOT OF THIS EARTH by Michael Lewy | ANIMAL MAGNETISM by Colin Dickey | KEEPERS by Steph Burt | AMERICA OBSCURA by Andrew Hultkrans | HEATHCLIFF, FOR WHY? by Brandi Brown | DAILY DRUMPF by Rick Pinchera | BEDROOM AIRPORT by “Parson Edwards” | INTO THE VOID by Charlie Jane Anders | WE REABSORB & ENLIVEN by Matthew Battles | BRAINIAC by Joshua Glenn | COMICALLY VINTAGE by Comically Vintage | BLDGBLOG by Geoff Manaugh | WINDS OF MAGIC by James Parker | MUSEUM OF FEMORIBILIA by Lynn Peril | ROBOTS + MONSTERS by Joe Alterio | MONSTOBER by Rick Pinchera | POP WITH A SHOTGUN by Devin McKinney | FEEDBACK by Joshua Glenn | 4CP FTW by John Hilgart | ANNOTATED GIF by Kerry Callen | FANCHILD by Adam McGovern | BOOKFUTURISM by James Bridle | NOMADBROW by Erik Davis | SCREEN TIME by Jacob Mikanowski | FALSE MACHINE by Patrick Stuart | 12 DAYS OF SIGNIFICANCE | 12 MORE DAYS OF SIGNIFICANCE | 12 DAYS OF SIGNIFICANCE (AGAIN) | ANOTHER 12 DAYS OF SIGNIFICANCE | UNBORED MANIFESTO by Joshua Glenn and Elizabeth Foy Larsen | H IS FOR HOBO by Joshua Glenn | 4CP FRIDAY by guest curators

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Poetry

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