Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Anupama Pilbrow

SEMIAUTOMATIC

SEMIAUTOMATIC

SEMIAUTOMATIC

hunger is the opposite
of everything I eat my
way out of purgatory I ingest
everything I swallow myself
I have that fear of peanut butter sticking
to the hard palate of my mouth I eat everything
but peanut butter I am
hungry and out of work
I lay down on a conveyor
belt like Chaplin’s in Modern Times and I fuck it up
and I miss
everything and get sucked into the
machinery where I am eaten
first and the gears pound me
I am cooked by a Black and Decker waffle
iron my hair falls out to start with I eat only my hair and nails
then I carve bits of thigh and boil
them in water to make soup I eat
slow to make the most of it
and sometimes share it with
those I love a meal brings people
together I eat leather I make choices I
have free will and I choose
to eat it instead I eat
art when I can get it
except art eats me so it’s
more like a once-in-a-while treat
I eat steel mostly hammers some
drill bits I eat a Cessna 150 I wrap
bacon around the barrel of my
M16 assault rifle and fire
off about 80 rounds and eat
the gun which is greasy with bacon fat
I stick my trigger finger down
my throat and eat my throat
my hand eats me I eat my hand
 
Close

SEMIAUTOMATIC

hunger is the opposite
of everything I eat my
way out of purgatory I ingest
everything I swallow myself
I have that fear of peanut butter sticking
to the hard palate of my mouth I eat everything
but peanut butter I am
hungry and out of work
I lay down on a conveyor
belt like Chaplin’s in Modern Times and I fuck it up
and I miss
everything and get sucked into the
machinery where I am eaten
first and the gears pound me
I am cooked by a Black and Decker waffle
iron my hair falls out to start with I eat only my hair and nails
then I carve bits of thigh and boil
them in water to make soup I eat
slow to make the most of it
and sometimes share it with
those I love a meal brings people
together I eat leather I make choices I
have free will and I choose
to eat it instead I eat
art when I can get it
except art eats me so it’s
more like a once-in-a-while treat
I eat steel mostly hammers some
drill bits I eat a Cessna 150 I wrap
bacon around the barrel of my
M16 assault rifle and fire
off about 80 rounds and eat
the gun which is greasy with bacon fat
I stick my trigger finger down
my throat and eat my throat
my hand eats me I eat my hand
 

SEMIAUTOMATIC

Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère