Nathanael William Stolte

There are Too Many Fuckboys Masquerading as Poets

For Robert J Smith (Not That Robert Smith)


Shepherd, where is your flock?
I see you are constantly impressed with yourself
But the wind carries your lies
Like a grave robber’s whisper

Knowing all the answers
To all the questions
On Jeopardy
Does not imply brilliance

Your living room
Is a vehicle to nowhere
But that seems to be
Your preferred destination

You can put
Kanye West Adidas
On Jabba the Hut
But he’ll still be a villain

You want to be aloof
But you’re just a moody bitch


Twenty Sixteen


This year
has taken
so much

From me

From you

This year
Stuck it
In and
Broke it
Off

Now
We’re
Bleeding
Out

In
The
Corner.


Pernicious God


who will deliver us if
god made us in his image?

god of filth
god of compost
god of excess
god of landfills
god of junk
god of the hoard
god of the bog
god of plenty
god of fuck
god of drunkards
god of fugue
god of pathos
god of fisting
god of megrim
god of over-medicated
god of the brave
god of the oil spill
god of fracking
god of toxic algae blooms
god of pesticides
god of petroleum
god of fecundity
god of aggression
god of the three-fifths compromise
god of chemistry
god of disproportion
god of the drive-thru
god of engineered famine
god of the bomb
god of superiority
god of the scarab
god of rendered lard
god of free-radicals
god of us vs. them

no—
you’ve made god
in the image of what
you’re not.


Sparkle Bird


I saw one of the fare-folk
With motley hair
And a magic all
Her own

Her eyes were
Glitter and
Kaleidoscopic
Microscopes that
Discerned
All my sins

I folded
Dozens of
Frenzied
Origami
Flowers

Gave them
To the wind
To deliver

For fear
I would frighten
Her away
Like some
Feral
Thing
If I
Approached

I would give it up—
All of it

For a chance
To be
Hers


Nathanael William Stolte is the author of three full length chapbooks, A Beggars Book of Poems, Bumblebee Petting Zoo, & Fools’ Song. He is the author of three mini chapbooks, 9 by N.W.S., 8 by N.W.S., & 7 by N.W.S. His poems have appeared in Ghost City Review, Guide to Kulture Journal, Five to One Magazine, & Plurality Press. He is a co-founder of CWPCollective Press. He is also co- founder of Cringe-Worthy Poets Collective, a small band of young poets attempting to make literary poetry more approachable for the youths’. He was voted best poet in Buffalo by Artvoice, “Best of Buffalo” in 2016. He is a madcap, D.I.Y. Buffalo bred & corn-fed poet.