Michael Robbins - Alien vs. Predator (Poets, Penguin)

ALIEN
VS.
PREDATOR ALIEN VS. PREDATOR MICHAEL ROBBINS PENGUIN POETS PENGUIN BOOKS Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England First published in Penguin Books 2012 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Copyright Michael Robbins, 2012
All rights reserved LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Robbins, Michael, 1972
Alien vs. predator / Michael Robbins.
p. cm.(Penguin poets)
ISBN 978-1-101-57682-3
I. Title: Alien versus predator.
PS3618.O315244A79 2012
811.6dc23 2011040812 Printed in the United States of America
Set in Minion Pro with Trade Gothic Display
Designed by Elke Sigal Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the authors rights is appreciated. For Xa
and for Perdita

For words at the right time: Srikanth Reddy, Oren Izenberg, Ange Mlinko, Jennifer Moxley, Jordan Davis, Dan Chiasson, Zach Baron, Jessica Hopper, Don Share, Nick Demske, Christian Lorentzen, Joshua Scodel. My personal trainer, Anthony Madrid, read, reread, edited, commented on, color-coded, and generally helped to shape, inspire, and improve every poem in this collection. There is no way in hell I couldve written it without him, onlie begetter. Pissing in One Hand is for Anahid Nersessian; Hold Steady, Any One I Want, Desperado and Money Bin are for Tricia Lockwood; Rosary is for Rose Schapiro; Things I May No Longer Bring on Airplanes is for Anna Clark; Sway is for Jennifer Wild. Thanks to Henry Gould for permission to repurpose a comment he left at the Digital Emunction blog as lines 89 of Downward-Facing Dog. Thanks to Paul Slovak for taking a chance on this book and to Robert Wrigley for giving him the idea.

And thanks to Paul Muldoon for blowing everything open. RIP Alex Chilton

Im not so forgiving. Im rubber, youre glue. That elk is such a dick. Hes a space tree making a ski and a little foam chiropractor. I set the controls, I pioneer the seeding of the ionosphere. I translate the Bible into velociraptor.

In front of Best Buy, the Tibetans are released, but wheres the whale on stilts that we were promised? I fight the comets, lick the moon, pave its lonely streets. The sandhill cranes make brains look easy. I go by many names: Buju Banton, Camel Light, The New York Times. Point being, rickshaws in Scranton. I have few legs. I sleep on meat.

Id eat your brapoint beingin a heartbeat.

The truth gets me hard. Song selection is key. The idiot Swedes do a number on me. They invent refrigeration and sleep in shifts. Im tired of being compared to Britney Spears. Shes so pretty.

Im covered in petroglyphs. That sorcerer bewitched my penis! Im speed and space, an Aztec princess. The truth makes me hurl, the truths a mistake. John Milton jumps out of my birthday cake. The psyched Mohican oils the beaver. Fruit Stripe gum soon loses flavor.

Everythings flammable. Everythings flash. Postmen like doctors and doctors like cash.

Its enough that Ghostface Killah knows. Apache, DynCorp, Cobra tell me, Ghostface, if you know, why Baghdad wears a black hood and the Green Zones Pizza Hut has power and the Yankees are six games out. The rain in Minneapolis is rain colored. The poor, purple in the cold, are lifted up by no white bird. Ghostface recites the cancer rates while Prince commands the tide to turn our paisley priest, our Swinburne.

Erectile dysfunction in the nations pets is just the sort of grievance we petition to redress. I give my skinny prick a shake, to ask if there is some mistake. Hold me closer, tiny reindeer. They saw Oliver Stone distribute juice boxes. He counts the headlights on the highway: one if by reptile, two if by foxes. Slash is both sad and happy for Axl.

The nations pets are high on Paxil. Memory is the bended grass where deer have lain. Its hard to hold a candle to the cold November rain.

It was the winter of the wayward clone. The frontier towns were low on phlogiston. I was a tiny acorn then, but now I mine the bay and trash the Finns. My names in all the magazines. Little Bo Mercy in heels and hose, just under the water she usually goes. She moves grams and ounces, prays for war.

Shes not the droid youre looking for. If I could mmm like a mourning dove, the bonny bears would know. The final buffalo scrimps and saves. I come on the uncut hair of graves.

You can build the rest from airplane parts and Listerine. I get my news from