Recenter Press
  • About
  • Books
    • Rest of US by Richard Hamilton
    • evening primroses by Emma Loomis-Amrhein
    • Profit | Prophet by Patrick Blagrave
    • To Hold Your Moss-Covered Heart by Schuyler Peck
    • The Good House & The Bad House by Doe Parker
    • The Road Is Long & Beautiful by Terra Oliveira
    • And Still To Sleep by Terra Oliveira
    • An Old Blue Light by Terra Oliveira
    • Processes: A Meditation by Terra Oliveira
  • Journal
    • Issue Four: Fall 2020
    • Issue Three: Spring 2020
    • Issue Two: Fall 2019
    • Issue One: Spring 2019
  • Interviews

Empath

BY NOAH C. LEKAS.


​Lost, I sink into the morality of an epic
only to reemerge mortal
not easily suffocated by allegory
I am not intrigued by corporeal institution
anxiously I search the charnel houses of the sea
to find the dream, reoccurring & impatient
my voice loses its stutter
to a subtle gradient vision
my eyes are millstones, imbued beyond darkness
weighted as childhood
a weathered pair, they desire reconciliation
momentarily I am almost there
at once, I am not
again light surrounds me
& I stutter another prayer.

Minimum Wage Mantra

BY NOAH C. LEKAS.


Broken kneed bodhisattva
lay it on me.
That bad back
can’t lift
the weight of
patron kings,
in the lost labor camps
of gilded regimes
their ornate robes
are stitched by Dickies.
In the putrid clamoring
of mill steam
the press levers are
bloodied, but the
break whistles
never scream.
Before you see
the nurse you’ll need
to give them some pee.
If it comes back positive
they ain’t paying a cent for your healing.
             resurrection pending sobriety​

Noah C. Lekas is a writer, journalist and the author of Saturday Night Sage (Blind Owl, 2019), a collection of poetry about mysticism and menial labor.  You can keep up with him on his website at www.noahclekas.com, and on Twitter @noahclekas.

"Empath" and "Minimum Wage Mantra" were previously published in Saturday Night Sage (Blind Owl Records).
  • About
  • Books
    • Rest of US by Richard Hamilton
    • evening primroses by Emma Loomis-Amrhein
    • Profit | Prophet by Patrick Blagrave
    • To Hold Your Moss-Covered Heart by Schuyler Peck
    • The Good House & The Bad House by Doe Parker
    • The Road Is Long & Beautiful by Terra Oliveira
    • And Still To Sleep by Terra Oliveira
    • An Old Blue Light by Terra Oliveira
    • Processes: A Meditation by Terra Oliveira
  • Journal
    • Issue Four: Fall 2020
    • Issue Three: Spring 2020
    • Issue Two: Fall 2019
    • Issue One: Spring 2019
  • Interviews