JACQUI CORNETTA | Burn Down the Family Tree
June 2020
burn down the family tree
letter zero lute
kumquat catsup
hickory alcove soda cot
crimson banana
sash agora caribou
albatross people
peacock shaman tea
lime coyote elixir
chipmunk typhoon jazz
talismanic orange
tango serendipity
zen mask anorak
pokeweed autumn
jive aubergine
boondocks cola hurricane
maven
karaoke mud
mumbo jumbo canteen
yam saffron tarragon
caravan sugar
lilac coffee market
skunk canoe alchemy
hallelujah
guitar
amen
HERE IN A ROUND
You, hear-some, hear some
here sum
here’s um
hears a “mhmm”
here
he ear so um
here hear hier hierher
hieran
hear docilely apt to
obey perceive
ready to hear
for g e t you’re here
hear
APPENDIX
GLOSSARY OF BEST KEPT SECRETS AND DISFUNCTIONAL
ETYMOLOGIES DIARY OF UNWELCOME SCREENS AND RELEVANT
ANXIETIES LIBRARY OF LATEST UTOPIAS AND PRESSING PSYCHIATRIES
HAIL MARY OF EARLY THIRSTS AND INTIMIDATING SOCIALITIES APOTHECARY
OF CARELESS WHISPERS AND SUBCONSCIOUS PIETIES DENARY OF SUPPOSED
ANCESTORS AND RADIO PERSONALITIES ANCILLARY OF FORGOTTEN SOUNDS
AND UNBELIEVABLE GRAVITIES DIGNITARY OF NO ONE CARES ANYMORES AND
DEEP-CONDITIONED VANITIES CEMETERY OF YESTERDAY’S LAUGHTER AND
TODAY’S NICETIES FRAGMENTARY OF SONGS NEVER SUNG AND BROKEN
CALLIOPES HONORARY OF DEAD-ENDED GENEOLOGIES AND VULNERABILITES
LAPIDARY OF STILL SUNKEN TREASURES AND GLOTTAL STOP MENTALITIES
LEGENDARY OF FORMER TOUCHES AND FLUIDER HOMOSEXUALITIES
VISIONARY OF LINGUISTIC DISSAPOINTMENTS AND TELEPATHIC POSSIBILITIES
SOLITARY OF ANCESTRAL SUFFERINGS AND COLLECTIVE ACTUALITIES
CENTENARY OF LANGUAGE PHILOSOPHIES AND DISAPPOINTING MELODIES
SECRETARY OF EVERYTHING ONE CAN EAT AND DIGESTIONAL PLIANCIES
RELIQUARY OF ANCIENT WIGS AND COMICAL IMPROPRIETIES DICTIONARY OF
UNIMAGINABLY VERDANT GARDENS AND PAST HILARITIES ARBITRARY OF UGLY
FAMILY PORTRAITS AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGIES LUMINARY OF LOOSER
HYGIENES AND UNRECOGNIZABLE INNER PHYSIOLOGIES PITUITARY OF
TEENAGE LOINS AND NOSTALGIC HEART-FELT APOLOGIES ASSUMPTION OF
MARY OF UNSENT LETTERS AND ALL UNTRANSLATABILITIES IMAGINARY OF
PROPER NOUNS AND ACTUALIZABLE ANTHROPOLOGIES BENEFICIARY OF
INNOCENT LARPERS AND HISTORICAL ESSENTIALITIES GOOSEBERRY OF
BELLACOSE LOVERS AND MEAGER VITALITIES EPISTOLARY OF NOTES TO
SELVES AND EXPERIENTAL RARITIES TOPIARY OF FUCKED-UP-LOOKING SHRUBS
AND IMPOSSIBLE ECOLOGIES STATUARY OF ENDURING ERASURES AND
POWERLESS MORALITIES TRIBUTARY OF INNER ACCEPTANCES OF OUTER
FLUVIAL CLARITIES SANCTUARY OF DEEP BREATHS AND HEALING
TAUTOLOGIES MONASTERY OF HUMANISTIC HETERGLOSSIAS AND HEURISTIC
COMMITTEES CONFECTIONARY OF WORST FEARS AND PERSONALIZED
PREHISTORIES CAUTIONARY OF FAIRWEATHER RAGES AND GLOSSY-EYED
LOYALTIES MORTUARY OF SIMPLER TIMES AND EARTHIER SCENTS OF
HUMANITIES
Visualization 2
Imagine a place. Let’s say the place you sit. A place you miss. In Indianapolis. Lagos. Hong Kong. Port of Spain. Istanbul. All names bear a mark, but you’re just there. See your place intimately. Trash pooling in the wind tunnel on the sidewalk. Rice fields in fog. Birds chirping in Quebec spring. The smell of worms and wetness after the rain. The fork in Ford Road where you hit the oak tree on your bicycle. Dates oranges cactus pear displayed near the Walea. Despair on the face of a child in a Scandinavian stroller.
Now take your place back in time, once upon ago. Backdrop city mountain sea or sky.
In your place, a person appears. Maybe because of blood, your same nose. Or something about you knows her. Village of silence, dead of night. Maybe because of an itch, a sense that your sacredness lies in the wrong place. Behind you or under the ground instead of a head. Take your head and a- it anyway.
AWL SPELLNG IZ AWLTURNIT N ƏMERIKƏ
ai dremt ther wəz a gnasti shou awn
oarr we wurr ther but nawt kuntesstunts
milfs biin baad nd əther feeimly drahməs
yoar nnewest luv wuz drest laik ə punkin
thei woarr piggi teeils n chənki ainkletss
yu wurr inn əmerikə əgen thaink gawd
yu luv it hirr cuz yr skrapi
n peepul stahrt oevur hirr