ERIC GELSINGER









Spring night by the lake in a field with 200 year old walnut tree


I lowered myself into a hole
At night, jumping to dark
Water into deep, sightless inching.
I left the flashlight, went

Arms in front, opened screen door.

Down stairs to a wide field in wide night
Toward a big branching darkness
Against blue-black. Among walnuts, roots.
Tried to lie comfortable,

Pussy willows, smell of night-grass
Weeds, windy stars, rippling floors
Some blue black patches between tree’s
Upside-down roots where wind roots.

Rolled over, took face away
From what breeze floated down
From a lake near the stars,  vegetable smell
On stomach, chest, elbows

Crawled barefoot to edge of the wood
Planks. Stood barefoot. Leaped out
Cannon ball deep

Arms out, toward a clearing

Of Walnuts, Pines, mountains,
To tall grassy weeds,
A spine of the Milky Way through them
With my hands out.








Vibrations

 

I have put so much coffee into my body I have lost my emotions.

Coffee makes me lie: I do have one emotion

It is called too much coffee.

 

The coffee wears off very fast

Because I drink so much of it: I have a second emotion

It is called I have to pee

It is a very strong emotion

I am like King Lear

 

I have a strong emotion

I am like Oedipus

I do not gouge out my eyes.  I have to pee.

They live in the old days.  Not me.

 

Oedipus never pees

King Lear does not pee

Because they are from that time

They are not real

I am real

I am emotional

I need a glass of water

This is also a strong emotion.

I will drink water and pee at the same time.

 

The coffee is wearing off even more

I have new emotions.

They care called txt msgs.

Txt msgs are a major way to do emotions

Txt msgs are better than faces or voices for emotions

 

I get txt msgs

But they are all from the same person

My pocket vibrates hopelessly

Like the old days.

 







 








Eric Gelsinger
was born in Buffalo, NY in 1977. He studied physics, neuroscience, psychology, and history on a full scholarship at the University of Buffalo and graduated summa cum laude as Presidential and Distinguished Honors Scholar. In the last ten years, he has traveled to England, as a student at Oxford University, as well as to Europe, Guatemala, Cuba, and South America. Recently, he moved to New York, worked for the United Nations, and now works for the world's largest hedge fund. He is a co-founder of House Press. Additional work and context can be found at the House Press website.









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