> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Four Poems by Sampson Starkweather
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/four-poems-by-sampson-starkweather/
- Published: 2015-05-27T11:01:02.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:43:22.000Z
- Description: Our poetry editor, Joe Pan, has selected four poems by Sampson Starkweather for his series that brings original poetry to the screens of Hyperallergic readers.
- Author: Joe Pan
- Tags: Poetry, Hyperallergic Poetry, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:08 (2014, 2015, part 2)

*Our poetry editor, Joe Pan, has selected four poems by Sampson Starkweather for* [*his series*](http://hyperallergic.com/tag/hyperallergic-poetry/) *that brings original poetry to the screens of Hyperallergic readers.*

\* \* \*

![kerri-strug-vault-o](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/05/kerri-strug-vault-o.gif)

revolution: denied  
transcendence: denied  
I need a new debit card  
and a way to say  
“uncle”  
in this unwilling  
arm-wrestling match  
with the world  
what can I say  
the phenomenon of nature  
is coming  
to a theater near you  
like me  
pretending to be  
me  
it’s performance  
is astounding  
and god knows  
where it ends  
life is a dress  
rehearsal for  
death  
we nail it every time  
like Kerri Strug  
better bunny down  
a poetics of autocorrect  
won’t save you  
angry at anything  
beautiful  
we didn’t create  
lost  
at last  
in the after  
math  
of  
nothing  
who  
to such sweet lack  
I surrender  
guns a blazing

![tumblr_mo0c7grUfQ1qi7mayo1_400](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/05/tumblr_mo0c7grufq1qi7mayo1_400.gif)

imagine color  
is a construct  
imagine it  
as music  
what will fall  
sounds like  
*a sudden gap* 
*wedged into* 
*the intellectual* 
*murmur*  
not an argument  
but a lynx  
pacing around  
the living room  
this is  
what it is  
to be  
with you  
to be  
bewildered  
apart  
of the  
endless blur

![rygos1120](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/05/rygos1120.gif)

the silent film  
of our perspective  
is burning  
the problem  
is memory  
(elegy)  
how to live  
with what  
we can’t keep  
a flower  
(a friend)  
impossibly pink  
(bright)  
the world  
in black  
& white  
*Darkness*  
on the marquee  
for the billionth  
day in a row  
but duh  
this life  
is on  
a loop

![tumblr_mqc1otZhqX1rbqucuo1_500](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/05/tumblr_mqc1otzhqx1rbqucuo1_500.gif)

Joy Revision  
…  
routine  
will tear us  
apart  
the woods  
are waiting  
for me  
to take a bow  
come home  
to a letter  
from Heifer United  
a bill from something  
I don’t dare open  
no emails  
texts or links  
will change the world  
but it doesn’t  
stop me  
from waiting for  
whatever  
that nothing  
that’s never  
coming  
may be  
… … …  
the seemingly  
infinite encore  
of the trees  

![Screen Shot 2015-05-26 at 12.30.34 PM](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/05/screen-shot-2015-05-26-at-12-30-34-pm.png)

\* \* \*

Sampson Starkweatheris the author of *The First Four Books of Sampson Starkweather*. He is a founding editor of Birds, LLC, an independent poetry press. His most recent chapbooks are *Flowers of Rad* by Factory Hollow Press, *Flux Capacitor*, a collaborative audio poetry album from Black Cake Records, and *Until the Joy of Death Hits*, pop/love GIF poems forthcoming from Spork Press. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

GIFs curated by Ana Božičević, and appear in the following order: *Kerri Strug competing at the 1996 Olympics* (GIF via[gifsoup.com](http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view7/3204567/kerri-strug-vault-o.gif?ref=hyperallergic.com)); *Leif Podhajsky’s album art for ‘Innerspeaker’ by Tame Impala* (GIF via [tumblr](http://monolithzine.tumblr.com/post/52665966628/album-art-by-leif-podhajsky-for-innerspeaker-by?ref=hyperallergic.com)); *Macaulay Culkin wearing Ryan Gosling shirt* (GIF via Photoshop battle post by /u/ericisshort on [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/photoshopbattles/comments/25cvh1/a%5Fpicture%5Fof%5Fmacaulay%5Fculkin%5Fwearing%5Fa%5Ftshirt/chgmh0h%E2%80%9C?ref=hyperallergic.com)); *Tao Tajima’s “Night Stroll”* (GIF via [tumblr](https://31.media.tumblr.com/e9ffd5680f26e8777bcd1f783e48aa0f/tumblr%5Fmqc1otZhqX1rbqucuo1%5F500.gif?ref=hyperallergic.com)).

Readers are encouraged to submit 3–5 poems in PDF form to Joe Pan for consideration at [poetry@hyperallergic.com](mailto:poetry@hyperallergic.com).