Chapel Hill
Mikael Johani
stick a pin in yr backbone
havent u noticed
chapell hill hasnt got its own passaic
look at its spine:

a spine-tingling web of fronts running thru shop-windows
caribbean curry & parota shops, pawnshoppes selling prototypes of
shark burgers
pickled, shredded, chili-ed hengstenberg rotessa apfelrotkohl!

theres sweet in bitterness, as always
try an earthen-jarred kimchi buried six feet under
in the north korean border
u want a range life?

summer babes do handstands on joburg beaches
open bar tops
piña coladas spiked with antiseptic hand soap?
youre crazed!

safari now, settle down never
the green hills of africa have gone panic-stricken

a lone olive tree stands at the pink edge of a mozambique desert

projet pour la protection des animaux sauvages?

les hommes u mean?

"Tsvangirai withdraws his party from election saying
to continue would cost supporters' lives"

gokil, thats what i mean

at UC San Diego then NYU
u did yr post-grad on film activism
got yr indonesian late '80s horror flicks' fix from mondo macabro
lady terminator v. jaka sembung
bawa golok gak nyambung

starálfur!

uve seen them? how did u stop yr heart
from stop-beating?
stop beating, stop breathin
breathe in for me how

cut yr hair and dont get a job
pretend u never go
to grad school

im bored at Lamont and everywhere else
Gonville and Caius, Magdalene, All Souls

coz white men got no soul
thats how we got UB40

all u ever wanted
was to be my spine
from the book MONGREL KAMPUNG/ Ugly Duckling Presse
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This poem is composed of 90s references—indie music, films, books, pop culture, etc.—have fun finding all the Easter eggs!

Mikael Johani on "Chapel Hill"
Cover of Asheville Poetry Review Issue 32
Celebrate National Poetry Month with Our Readers

"Almost one year before I read this poem, my dad found a hummingbird lying on our driveway. Although it looked dead, he picked it up and spoke to it softly until it flew off. This called that moment to mind and I realized that it was exactly what I needed to hear at a time when I wasn’t noticing things like birds. The most meaningful moments in my life have been centered around little things like hummingbirds and family, and this poem reminded me that even in a sea of unhappiness, just a moment with nature can make everything worthwhile."

Reece Steidle
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Black and white photograph of Vladimir Mayakovsky
"How War Changed Vladimir Mayakovsky"

"But Mayakovsky also came to World War I with the impressions made on him by his childhood. This included growing up in Georgia, on the outskirts of the empire; the revolutionary unrest of 1905, which in his home country took an anti-colonial color; poverty and a hard life in Moscow; participation in the Bolshevik party, prison, and his first artistic experiments. He would end up at an antiwar position—but not before a fascination with odious and militaristic ideas."

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