this manifesto comes with
catbirds
six dead
may apples
drying on the
windowsill
my mother burying her
pig behind the
irises
it starts with the threat of storm
sits below another war our familiar
mirage
spring spent in cruel
middle america
my heart runs heavy on rural ennui
and anhydrous gas
tries to turn up the
twang when it
has to
at the post office i broke off my lock box key in the
wall of locks
irony is the mailman once warned me that tree limbs
can be trouble
shit-talked the cop before offering us a survey about
his service
i am back in bad luck again
in dreams blue jays carry wet matches
toward the american gothic house
i want to know glee as my neighbor ronnie does
after all day rain
throwing bean bags at a board with a hole
in the middle
his whole life is histrionics
clearing the board at night
cleaning the hospital in the
morning
would you believe the body
of christ could be held inside
a saltine cracker
that’s how he first found me
june like this
town like this
town where i was taught to back them
the troops
told to do it now and to know that
when the world finally burned I would be
in some small way
to blame
now picture a clavinova rattling around
the back of a pickup truck
wrapped up in winter blankets
collecting rain beneath
the keys
let me live long enough to hear that music
just once
i have eaten my anger here with too much quiet
smoke in the gravy
that’s the midwest to me
cheap cigars
that four seasons porch with the
windows painted shut
i opened up my chest once to find
a starving clown
twisted guitar strings
enough bloody mary
mix to last the
afterlife
a peacock feather fades in the window
one story above the milkweed
something in her hands and words
make resurrection
sometimes we are allowed to lose
our minds trying to make
memory
in my dreams i get caught behind
combines
i am living in the country of my country
i do not know what it means to dream
any place else
Avery Gregurich
Marengo, IA
Late Spring, 2026