Kyle MacLachlan is hiding [ ] in your house
Kyle MacLachlan is hiding [ ] in your car
Kyle MacLachlan is hiding [ ] in your closet
Kyle MacLachlan is hiding [ ] in the woods
In the dark
Kyle MacLachlan is hiding [ ] in plain sight
Kyle MacLachlan is hiding [ ] in full-screen
Kyle MacLachlan is hiding [ ] in your closet
In the dark
Kyle MacLachlan is peering / / / through slats of light
Kyle MacLachlan is hiding { } in my poem
Kyle MacLachlan is watching: me
Write this poem
The poem is a sharp < instrument
The poem is pointing > directly at you
The poem is instruction
Behind a panel in the closet there are woods there are boys in the woods with hair as black and eyes as blue as the dressing gown of Isabella Rossellini the trees have dusky blue leaves the same shade as Isabella Rossellini’s eyeshadow in the woods it is dark as Kyle MacLachlan’s hair but shiny as his black patent leather shoes there are birds with wings as blue as the eyes of Dennis Hopper observe that a poem is language in disguise the birds are singing the boys are 27 years old the same age as Kyle MacLachlan at the time of filming the birdsong can be translated as follows hit me hit me hit me do it do it now the poem is held at knifepoint the boys are lying face-down in the woods there are boys with skin as pale as Kyle MacLachlan or Isabella Rossellini there are boys with Dennis Hopper blue eyes there are boys with mother o’ pearl knives they are watching and waiting for you to complete this poem
Alistair McCartney is the author of The Disintegrations and The End of the World Book, two experimental novels published with University of Wisconsin Press. The Disintegrations is the recipient of The Publishing Triangle’s Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction. TEOTWB was a finalist for the PEN USA Fiction Award and the Publishing Triangle’s Edmund White debut fiction award. His poetry and cross-genre writing has appeared in journals such as Hotel, Deleuzine, Fence, Light/Air, LIT, Stand, 3:AM, Vestiges, Nat.Brut, Animal Shelter (Semiotexte), ExPat Press andPilot Press’s Paul Thek and Forbidden Colours Anthologies. His favourite grudge is Baudelaire’s against the bourgeoisie. He is currently working on a book of poetics and a novel. Originally from Australia, he lives in Los Angeles, where he is Teaching Faculty in Antioch University’s MFA program.
