about the author

Joshua Young is the author of three books of poetry, most recently, with Chas Hoppe The Diegesis (Gold Wake Press), as well as the forthcoming THE HOLY GHOST PEOPLE (Plays Inverse Press). His work has appeared or is forthcoming from Puerto del Sol, Fugue, Gulf Ghost, Vinyl, and Third Coast, among others. He is the Associate Director of Poetry & Nonfiction at Columbia College Chicago. He lives in the Wicker Park neighborhood with his wife, their son, and their dog. Find him here: thestorythief.tumblr.com.


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Making Myths

Joshua Young



word is those punks who wailed on that ave

rat disappeared during ss decontrol’s set, &

not even their names stayed, like poof, like

their parent’s don’t even remember them, like

they can’t even be ghosts, like the boston

crew found out they were into booze & drugs,

pulverized them into the wood, like they ain’t

even atoms, like m says, this’ll be just another

thing we’ll shrug about when people ask
, in ripper

dys talks about it, says, everyone was diving, creepy-

crawlin’, slammin’, & piling on. next thing, these

fuckers were gone. we worked them into history
.


Two Scenes

Joshua Young



i can feel the pressure on my shoulder, as his

hands inspect me for weapons. i don’t carry.

violence is the refuge of the weak, unless it’s

necessary, or at least that’s what m says.

someone says, you pigs—rubber band straps &

we’ve got the whole thing going again, look at

how cars slow, wait, do you know what it’s

like to watch traffic from a balcony? look at

the what joggers swarm the lake trail in spring,

the sun fills every crease out there, & people

keep talking about how much they love the mariners.



i can feel the pressure on my shoulder, his

foot is there, pressing, & when the breakdown

clatters through, he pushes off, back into the

crowd, still chugging through the progression.

studs & black belts we don’t wear, but the

kids have wrapped them around their waists

& wrists, & we’ve got the whole thing going

again, look at how the older swerve from

where we stand, wait, do you know what it’s

like to tuck yourself into a vans? do you know

what it’s like to keep duct-taping what you

own till the duct-tape won’t hold? look at

what the highway patrol stops every time &

people keep talking about how the road is

hard to stay on.





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