Mechanical Joey
︎︎︎ Jeffrey Grunthaner
︎ Feb 23, 2026
hello without a cigarette a-
wakening in Berlin, blurred, barely west
my brain goes off toward hyperbole
globules face to face, a beauteous riot, not
the kaolinite swarm of his cranial box but
to my kitchen to make eggs & coffee
the chimney sweeps blue sonnets
into the barking of late afternoon light
awakened today in the weathering green
more gray than
lightning, branches gathering spidery
ruby winds impales the throat
after the hummingbirds’ streak, a military waltz
burst where my dead best friend will always
march
where birds glue silence together, astral knight.
wakening in Berlin, blurred, barely west
my brain goes off toward hyperbole
globules face to face, a beauteous riot, not
the kaolinite swarm of his cranial box but
to my kitchen to make eggs & coffee
the chimney sweeps blue sonnets
into the barking of late afternoon light
awakened today in the weathering green
more gray than
lightning, branches gathering spidery
ruby winds impales the throat
after the hummingbirds’ streak, a military waltz
burst where my dead best friend will always
march
where birds glue silence together, astral knight.
Jeffrey Grunthaner is based in Berlin and New York.