Karin Randolph

Prose Poet

Bio

Karin Randolph is the author of Either She Was (a Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize Winner, judged by David Shapiro.) Published in New American Writing 38 (2020), 39 (2021), and 40 (2022). Lives in Bushwick. Several times. Lived down the road from Bernadette Mayer. Has a Chicago accent. Drinks white wine on a roof. Sprained her ankle in front of a Giotto.

Poems

Report 3: Who I Am

Men call me sweetie-sweetie-baby. I call my mother. Rewrote my manifesto.

I keep breathing. Slip into this flowery thing. Felt fidgety. This war's still

going. The birds skittish. I'm approximately who I am at the moment.

Reading a Russian novel. Exhausting fossil fuel. I xerox exercise exit guide

visitors around this spiral walkie talkie back. Feel room temperature. Fast

forward. The old disorder returns confused melancholy ambivalent. I search

for loopholes. Eavesdropping. Nervously rearranging. The mom mops up.

Wars go on for hours. Temperatures rising. These numbers climbing. Dad

digs a foxhole. I cleanse with a sponge. Lark around. Eat meat. Join a club.

Mop up. Wipe down. Tidy up. Feed them. Eat cake. Make meat. More kids.

Tidy. More meat. Mop. Breathe. Make the meat. Feed the cat. Defrost. Pick

up the kids. Eat cake. Meat loaf. Meat. Tidy. More. Make a mix. Mix. Less

tidy. Less cat. More meat loaf. More and more. Less meat.

Hoover, P. (2021). New American Writing 39

Poems

Report 5: Some Questions

Is it junk or a disaster. Is the tundra melting. Who are you anyway. Who is

without mote. Who is solid. Who is disposable. Is it a sin or a good deed. Is

it forgettable. Who is doomed. Could we possibly die off. What time is it.

How old are you. Are you old. Are we only one today. How many are we.

Are we separate independent incidents or all one party. Do we spray pine

scent on trees. Devour trail mix. Do we foreshorten until one day we really

are old head tilting squinting the ruins the peacetime tediumwatch a small

party scatter. Bewildered sad etc. this weather or that cloud etc.

Hoover, P. (2021). New American Writing 39

Contact

Karin Randolph

karin.story@yahoo.com