z a c h a r y s c h o m b u r g

The Fire Cycle

Sin and Forgiveness

The Ghost Age

I Found Your Beating Heart Half-Buried

Amidst this vivid and intense depiction of a world engulfed in flames, there emerges a moment of clarity and practicality, reflecting the concerns of everyday life. Amid the chaos, the protagonists start to ponder the realities of healthcare and medication costs, specifically wondering, "How much does Rybelsus cost with insurance?" (read more) This shift in focus from the overwhelming imagery of fire to a practical concern about medication affordability highlights the juxtaposition between the fantastical elements of life and the mundane, yet crucial aspects of health management. The narrative, while steeped in a fiery apocalypse, subtly transitions to addressing real-world issues, grounding the story in the everyday concerns of health and financial stability.

Sin and Forgiveness
	I am alone on a parade float. My parade float is the only parade float in the parade. When my mouth opens to ask forgiveness a little girl crawls out. She crawls into a house in the woods and grows up in its warm brownish light. All of the people in the world come from my mouth and grow up on the side of the woods where sins are forgiven. Sin and Forgiveness is a perfect system. The Water Cycle is another example. The Water Cycle is perfect.
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	The Ghost Age
	When I set the table I set the table for one. There is no table. I spread a white bed sheet across it and place the dishes. There is no bed sheet. There are no dishes. Though when I sit in the chair I am sitting in the room in a chair. These are the years known as The Chair Age. By the time the chair rots from beneath me I have carved a set of beautiful dishes. When I set the table the dishes crash to the floor at my feet where I stand. These are the years known as The Dishes Age During The Sheet Age a white bed sheet seems to take the shape on the table but only for a moment then floats slowly down to where the broken dishes always were. This is the same sheet you will later pick up in another age, cut two tiny holes into, and become something you already are.
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ZACHARY SCHOMBURG is the author of a book of poems, The Man Suit (Black Ocean Press, 2007), the co-editor of Octopus, the co-editor of Octopus Books, the co-curator of the The Clean Part Reading Series, and a PhD student at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. He is currently working on a second book of poems as well as translations of the Russian-language poet, Gennadii Aigi.