Dreamland, 1911

 
 

Perhaps this chain of events amounts to nothing

more than a malfunction: one million light bulbs

bursting in succession, a fire spreading rapidly

through the landscape of lath buildings.

 

In the avenues, one-armed men search

for phantom limbs & an actress covered in ash

rows her gondola across the boardwalk. Nearby,

a lion rushes through throngs of bystanders

but kills only a single cop.

                   I move through

the crowds with a piece of marquee lodged

in my ear. In the distance, a train derails

from its tracks: no passengers, no survivors—

another accident reaching its logical conclusion,

another carnival burning slowly into the sea. 

 

Object

Dreamland

Body of Water

Coney Island

About the Artist

Conley Lowrance began writing poetry after an aborted career in punk rock. His interest in lyrics and subculture literature eventually led him to the University of Virginia’s poetry writing program where he received his BA. His poems been published by Tupelo Press, The Glasgow Review of Books, Gadfly, Columbia University’s Catch and Release, and Counterexample Poetics. Currently, he is exploring the intersection of Surrealist poetry and detective fiction and working at Columbia University’s Heyman Center for the Humanities. Follow him @ConleyLowrance.