A POEM by MATTHEW KLANE
The Reality Check
I know no one is
gonna see this or care,
correct?
that I shared some very personal
epistemological verses
and a peer I work closely with
repeatedly mocked me.
This is not a bit.
I’m literally at work rn
and this shit is happening rn.
I hate it here.
I hate it more and more
every single day,
society’s enlarging circles
fucking spheres of influence,
the flu.
I’m incensed.
I’m literally burning
all of the cameras and the clocks
in this Borders bookstore rn
I ambiently overheard
my coworker
behind the information desk
saying,
You can rip on Rupi Kaur,
but the truth is
honey
her words are out there
offering services,
advancing knowledge for a profit,
and your words
mere hours spent
playing
Van Halen on Guitar Hero,
catcalling kittens-with-love-eyes,
screaming into the void.
You have to come to grips
fucking grapple
with the fact
that you went into this
little writer’s group
fully aware
of your impossible need
to express the inexpressible,
correct?
but the truth is
anyone who reads this
has said transphobic things.
Matthew Klane is the author of “Canyons” (w/ James Belflower, Flimb Press 2016), “Che” (Stockport Flats 2013) and “B” (Stockport Flats 2008). An e-chapbook from “Of the Day” is online at Delete Press, an e-book “My” is online at Fence Digital, and a chapbook “Poetical Sketches” is available from The Magnificent Field. He currently lives and writes in Albany, NY. See: matthewklane.com.