16. At Me- Brandon Downing
Octopus Books

Brandon gave me a copy At Me at his Woolsey Heights reading a couple years ago. 

Brandon made this video which "premiered on January 16, 2010, at SpaceSpace in Ridgewood, New York, at Poetry Time's showcase of John Sakkis, Niina Pollari, and John Coletti."





I wrote this little poem called "Knowing" in dedication to Brandon and his video (the plane crash footage is taken from an amazing Nic Cage disaster movie (movie disaster?) called Knowing; it's about ancient aliens, the Old Testament, and the end of the world, it's a ridiculously fun (ridiculous?) popcorn flick that aspires to be more, and fails miserably, I loved it. 

Knowing

for Brandon Downing

The wheat field 

an ocean landscape,

A blown out Eden 

outside of Alexandria,

And the president 

wouldn't wait 

as long as he did

If the sun ejaculated 

an apocalypse

Penetrating 1.2 miles 

into the earth's crust

Val Thor 

spoke of Christ's presence

In the Universe, 

just like 

Nic Cage's Dad was a preacher 

with 4 faces, The Lion, 

The Man, An Ox, The Eagle

Ezekiel's Wheel 

was a primitive mechanism

Heralding the Phoenix Lights

The city is a desert, 

some call this 

“missing time”

And when I looked 

I saw a cigar-shaped windstorm 

hovering silently, 

the desert turned to faces

And the city turned to wings 

until the sky became a black stone 

too crowded for the movies