David O’Meara

Puzzle

Was that you shitposting on twitter, or worse, rolling
out an inspirational meme? Cleave to the sticky path between.
More feeling, less emoticon. Better a bag of lemons than

Febreze. Or stand back. Find some perspective. Go outside, go
swimming, for fuck’s sake. I’m no danger junkie, but a spell
with a mountainside and carabiner would put some vitamin D
in your stride. Wear sunscreen, please. (Also, note Everest mishaps).

Maybe a crossword puzzle is more your speed. Or jigsaw.
Knitting? Death is everywhere. Hobbies are projective, eerie, existential.
In Nagaland, the winner ate fourteen ghost peppers in the chili-eating
contest, then went knock-kneed and glassy-eyed, found fetal

against a wall for the post-game interview. He spoke little English
but managed to convey his state: “Very no.” Props
for essence. Me, I keep one eye open and one eye closed.

—David O’Meara

* This poem will be one of several 14-liners that will appear in Dave’s new book, “Masses on Radar,” being published this fall with Coach House Books.

brickbooks.ca

David O’Meara lives in Ottawa, Ontario. He is the author of three collections of poetry and a play, Disaster. He’s been shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Award, the ReLit Prize, the Trillium Book Award, a National Magazine Award, four Rideau Awards, and he won the Archibald Lampman Award twice. His most recent book is Noble Gas, Penny Black (Brick Books, 2008). He is director of the renowned Plan 99 Reading Series and was the Canadian judge for the 2012 Griffin Poetry Prize.