Lincoln Neal

I was born in Owego, NY and live and work in Portland, OR.

[prettycertified]

when you hear a giggle

downstairs, you know i’ve gone.

/

a woman wearing no

shirt is being lead

like a child to bed

and hoping to be sick.

/

the occasional blast

from the radio is reassuring but unpredictable.

like stains on a favorite shirt.

and bleach could ruin it.

www.prettycertified.com/charleston/fear-of-bleach

[prettycertified]

"Chaconne"

i’m thin (dry) as crickets on land i move too slow if at all and sing while air carries sparks of fire. in water (i’m wet) i move too fast if at all and sing, so thin as legs like violin necks i test the stream and breathe deep the cricket- song (and sink)

www.prettycertified.com/nowhere/chaconne

[prettycertified]

“The Snail Painter”

my back yard is small and full of snails. and angry hummingbirds. there is a family of sparrows, too. i usually type/write out here. the children in an adjacent yard chant creepy songs between asking their parents if they want lemonade even when it’s raining, which it very often is. the parents are always chopping things– marionberry briars and roses, things with thorns and fruit and flowers. i try so hard not to step on the snails. if i sit long enough, they crawl on to my shoes and i don’t notice. when friends come over we tip-toe around trying sooo hard not to step on them, but we always eventually do– that awful crunch. we are always apologizing. beneath the briars is a snail factory where one snail refuses to work because all he wants to do is draw snail trails all day, and the others disapprove. 

https://www.prettycertified.com/nowhere/the-snail-painter

[prettycertified]

In the ground is the devil of dirt rock bones coal and grandma black space and gravity burned into a flowing time of hot hot heaven; the groove of time in a slow bounce in every inch of every tick unbelievable steam trapped in gorges of granite quartz and limestone and liquid. They are called plates and upon their gold we smack our starry gavels and, if I can remember correctly, from grandma’s old stories from folklore, of the years of yin and invisible yang, cherry blossoms milk wool and fruit from the sea the heyday of treasure, we lived and lived well. We had sunblock and eye paint… everything, reverentially.

https://www.prettycertified.com/nowhere/everything-reverentially 

[prettycertified]

private immersions.

perfect. and a naughty

black dog

appreciating a

ripped navy brazier with

tooth and slobber.

the radio

twelve am

blinking.

a desklamp smeared with

something.

a black eye,

bruised rib,

purple shoulderblade.

a spattered time magazine

arrogant and bland,

where i think i read

it is

nice to like the things that have you

https://www.prettycertified.com/charleston/things-that-have-you

[prettycertified]

you write on your hand with a pen (though there’s paper) i write on your jeans with a pen (though there’s paper) you draw on my notebook cover with a pen (though there’s paper) i write on your skin with my hand (like a pen) 

https://www.prettycertified.com/newyork/lets-draw-on-our-jeans

[prettycertified]

not all the

caldera

drunks are

pretty

on fourth of july, from

the dead volcano

we watch

in rapt wonder west

by a passed out

lady bathed

in sparklers

and the man who gruffly

answered me

she’d be okay with

all the lovely

portland lights

https://www.prettycertified.com/portland/pdx-lights

[prettycertified]

i walk when rain gets in my coffee i slow and stop until the spots connect and my jeans are dark 

https://www.prettycertified.com/nowhere/americano

[prettycertified]

taste salt one stings you touch with a tongue i can’t see in these things

https://www.prettycertified.com/elsewhere/taste-salt

[prettycertified]

petal to

scrape from wet earth

-could we begin to speak slower- for fear of ratting-

an upturned face- my way- yay- your way- keep

your fingers clean- pointed- feint-

sorry- i gave a worry small-

too small- what power it contained-

yes- as if dropped from a cliff-

a small worry penny quick-

https://www.prettycertified.com/charleston/penny-quick

[prettycertified]

It’s okay to be bored by fear

pop fear is a

fundamental cultural craze. Intense

fear is

boring now too.

fear of fire

is

cowardice

now spiders the same. hexes, roots,

evil eyes are embarrassments. but.

Homes possessed by

Foxes,

now those, especially those, are

different people say, they are only a

thing to tell the doc. say Hey friend,

my house is possessed by

Foxes, they’re under the porch

they’re between the walls,

they’re reading by candle in the

Attic. The chimney is even

clogged utterly with

Foxes, and they show no fear

of god and prayer,

And he’ll say, warily, dialing the

doctor

Sure kid.

Sure. That sure is strange

as foxes burn dancing like dropped

lit matchsticks in

every corner, repeating

no, it can’t be. oh, lord it can’t be,

Foxes are everywhere

repeating

https://www.prettycertified.com/nowhere/houses-possessed-by-foxes

[prettycertified]

hummingbird i am on

your

porch which is why you’re

watching me. would you otherwise

look my way? i like your

humming wings buzz

when you hover

i love you pure, sang

the hummingbird

though without breath

but with air over

vibrating wings, larnyx

arms so

i

in return

sang this

https://www.prettycertified.com/portland/pure-sang

[prettycertified]

If in some languages

killing is change and water is time then

today is eventfully always if only

for the dying noises of bar talk and whistles

of melting snow underneath us (and i

never knew a pisces girl before) but

mentioning none of those things i said

now it’s 2, then tomorrow it’s hullo,

hullo twinkling in your sorry neck, hullo again

allowing for for an unchanging thought

nearly aloud about which language can survive here the longest

https://www.prettycertified.com/newyork/dying-noises-of-bar-talk

[prettycertified]

it’s late

so in my mind

is the last thing said

at the matador. your birthday? that wasn’t it,

the last thing said. we shook hands,

i believe, in the way whirls do.

eh, seattle isn’t so far, not so

far as new york, and here we are. the cab came and

took a circuitous route

and i got to see you dance on burnside

like a person running through

trees in the dark with your friends until i believed you

https://www.prettycertified.com/portland/the-last-thing-said

[prettycertified]

conformity is important, which

is why i am not in love anymor

and this art is not art at all bec

it don’t fit in this fickle little box

And you being this prettiest swi

to turn me on, i am sorry, due t

space constraints you can’t turn

me on anymore because that’s

what the space dictates. confor

is important, which is why i am

not in love anymore. and this

art is not art at all because it do

fit in this fickle little box. and

You being the prettiest switch t

turn me on, i am sorry due to s

constraints you can’t turn me o

anymore because that’s what th

space dictates. conformity is im

portant, which is why i say i will be in love

more often, as if. and this art is art because it doesn’t fit

into this little box. and you being prettiest which i never switched

doesn’t fit in this space, which is why i programmed this paper to state

Constraint, conformity is importa

which is why i’m not in love any

because that’s what i’m confined

to say, that’s what the space dict

ates, conformity is important, which is of course why

this is meaningless, you being the

prettiest switch to turn me on i am

sorry, due to such constraints we a

Suddenly beautified beach of eleph

ants cooling in the sea, beautifying

the luscious world with nonconformity,

i just noticed

Beached elephants in honest admir

ation of bending a rule to suit the m

ood, and such immodesty, as if there were really ever elephants honestly

https://www.prettycertified.com/newyork/conformity-is-important

[prettycertified]

some sort of sing at

3:13 like a june bug. katie did

and made secrets of

stockings. so

rachel farms flowers hoping

nylon keeps out

pests,

one note songs and some sweet ass husks–

humming pick one, pick one– these

aren’t bush crickets

https://www.prettycertified.com/nowhere/katydid

[prettycertified]

ashley avenue can hold more cops than you might imagine in the space of one block there were seven with plumes of blue smoke by the white looming ambulances my brother! my brother! my brother! someone was crying near quiet murmuring faces in doorways, hands on hips and houseclothes, cops jotting, glancing nervously, smiling. might the neighborhood erupt on them? they think? but only shaking heads. someone sobbing.

https://www.prettycertified.com/charleston/north-charleston