Caryl Pagel
Caryl Pagel is the author of an essay collection, Out of Nowhere Into Nothing (FC2), and two books of poetry: Twice Told (University of Akron Press) and Experiments I Should Like Tried at My Own Death (Factory Hollow Press). Her poems and essays have appeared in Conduit, The Iowa Review, New American Writing, The Paris Review, and The Rupture. Caryl is a co-founder and publisher at Rescue Press and a poetry editor at jubilat. She teaches creative writing at Cleveland State University and in the NEOMFA program.
Ordinary Strata (Cleveland)
Vacant IHOP’s stripped sign more legible than it was with lights
Man sneezing into a stranger’s mouth
Man returning a box of opened condoms
Man in pastel scrubs cradling his crotch at the crossing
We claim the dead branch is integral to the structure of the tree
Unscooped stoops start a parade in the streets
Tall ships come to port in June
Ordinary Strata (Cleveland)
Meadowbrook Road keeps the meadow’s brook secret
A firetruck sale scribbled on the window in soap
Free museum
Solo tulip
Trombone player not great you heard
Man remembering his childhood in Hough
Before the hospital buildings went up
Ordinary Strata (Cleveland)
How to signal distress
An 18th floor elevator opens to a waterfall
A village exists to defend where you panic
Cops under federal investigation
Two “fresh and meaty” King Babies
The toast invented as a test for poison
Our responsibility clean water
Ordinary Strata (Cleveland)
Syphilis is Serious billboard
Abortion is Fake Feminism billboard
Hot Sauce Williams is closing
Wicked Taco is closing
Cave de Vin is closing
Tav Co is closed
Now it’s open again in Brennan’s
Ordinary Strata (Cleveland)
Rotting meat silver lemon candlestick wax
Pleasure just out of reach
Sign up at the link
The first frame should set in motion a theme
Crafted to exist out of context
The vitriol of our age
Garbage obscene