DRECK

MIKE BAGWELL

ZONING LAWS

-the-hotel-elevator-is-dig
esting-my-calcium-it-is-pu
lsing-and-young-and-born-w
ith-the-black-mortgage-dra
ped-over-its-face-all-of-i
ts-feelings-swelling-and-r
eceding-I-am-an-orchestra-
of-broken-umbrellas-how-th
e-canyon-yawns-to-play-the
m-do-not-tell-the-moon-abo
ut-our-spreadsheets-she-wi
ll-weep-to-see-them-re-the
-zoning-laws-re-my-jawbone
-vibrating-at-the-resonant
-frequency-of-quarantined-
emails-no-one-will-get-hur
t-the-mountains-are-just-m
olars-waiting-for-the-plie
rs-of-geography-to-extract
-them-

WARRING

-do-it-right-for-once-forethinking-and-the
-burnt-filament-of-pathos-you-keep-coming-
keep-finding-me-at-the-becoming-mail-of-my
-innermost-failures-language-is-a-virus-ob
viously-but-it's-fun-that-it-too-developed
-at-the-first-fires-of-humanity-just-like-
tuberculosis-both-caught-up-and-killed-Kaf
ka-here-we-are-coughing-up-worlds-insides-
coating-the-syntax-seeking-difference-not-
a-reasonable-place-to-be-this-telekinesis-
this-refresh-rate-of-flora-how-many-eons-w
e've-shivered-in-the-dark-winds-grafting-g
host-plants-birds-take-the-nomads-of-my-ha
nds-a-morse-code-of-midnights-even-the-war
-inverts-its-skin-seeking-guidance-of-a-fo
rest-spirit-in-the-guise-of-a-gray-fox-I-w
rote-you-this-love-poem-it-contains-my-lov
e-

WATER IS NEVER SENTIENT OR NONSENTIENT

title is a direct quote from Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzo as translated by Nishijima and Cross

-in-the-senjō-chapter-of-the-Shōbōgenzo-zen-master-D
ōgen-goes-on-at-length-about-the-proper-methods-of-s
hitting-which-hand-to-use-when-and-how-to-wash-and-s
o-on-and-then-he-says-not-to-draw-signs-in-the-dirt-
with-the-shit-stick-and-the-shit-stick-should-be-eig
ht-suns-long-which-is-a-cool-line-meaning-roughly-te
n-inches-I-agree-about-the-suns-but-I’m-sure-as-hell
-going-to-draw-with-my-shit-sticks-put-so-many-of-th
em-in-my-poems-I’m-not-even-sure-there-are-words-res
iding-there-draw-them-over-every-ō-so-grab-your-shit
-we’re-going-straight-for-the-coast-

Mike Bagwell is a burnt wire of pure luck. Recent work appears in Lana Turner, Posit, Poetry Northwest, Texas Review, ITERANT, Noir Sauna, Annulet, and others. Recent chapbooks include Poem of Thanks: Swords and the Devil (Thirty West 2026) and Poem of Thanks: A Court of Wands (Metatron 2025). He runs the Ghost Harmonics reading series and magazine in Philly. Find him at mikebagwell.me, @low_gh0st, or playing dragons with his daughters.