Dog Boy & Boris in the Trees
two poems by Sebastian Hunter
Good morning.
I’m thrilled to share the work of newcomer Sebastian Hunter today. Following the poems, you’ll find a brief Q&A. I ask about his Longmont Potion Castle t-shirt.
IRL: If you’re in the Pacific Northwest, stand by for news on MORNING, FUCKERS #2. The early-bird reading series returns in September, this time in Portland!
- 🖤AV
DOG BOY
by Sebastian Hunter
Darkest days of the drought,
the midseason collapse
of a middle school soccer team:
I can find no comfort in games.
Desolation sweeps through town
like a Killdozer
through the burnished brick of city hall.
A creature known as Dog Boy
has been photographed crying
in black-and-white on the front page of the paper.
Dog Boy has a love in his heart
for every living thing.
I take up him up to the Ferris wheel’s apex.
I feed him burgers and fries as night falls.
A harsh wind from a dark cloud
ruffles my hair and his fur.
Satellites blink at us from above
and Dog Boy blinks back, Morse code:
Lord, forgive us our sins,
and let me meet one day a Dog Girl.
BORIS IN THE TREES
by Sebastian Hunter
I made an uncomfortable home for myself
in the Great North Woods.
Many of my friends called me the first
President of Russia, but what do they know?
Can they tell north from south?
Can they whittle a Rubik’s Cube
out of soft driftwood? I am tall enough
to step over purposeless fences,
the fences that keep us safely removed
from wilderness. Around this time,
I began to dry out. There was nothing
to drink and no taxicabs to hail.
In the woods there was nothing yellow at all.
Still, I teemed with inner complexities.
I understood the forest in a holistic sense,
recognized my anodyne place
fifteen feet above the floor. But no matter
how hard I tried to forget about the park service,
they were always singing radio songs
just out of my earshot, uniformed
and wearing impossibly stupid hats.
Reading on your phone? Here are the intended line-breaks.
Sebastian Hunter is a writer and musician from Seattle. He makes maps for a living. His work has appeared in JAKE, Roi Fainéant, and Bombfire.
LITTLE EXTRAS: Three questions for Sebastian Hunter
What poets are you reading? What do you think? What about non-poets?
Today I’ve been reading Douglas Crase, a sorta-underread second gen (?) New York School poet. Really wonderful stuff—imagine an alternate universe John Ashbery weaned mostly on Whitman and Emerson. Lots of riffing on landscapes and local histories. Otherwise? Natalie Lyalin, Daniil Kharms, Chelsey Minnis, Dean Young, Graham Foust, Mary Ruefle, and I’m constantly reading (and rereading, and rereading) Ashbery, James Tate, and David Berman.
In the non-poetry world, it’s mostly been a steady stream of novels. I’m working slowly through everything Joy Williams and Don DeLillo have written. Also been reading a lot of Sebald, Portis, Barry Hannah. Just last night I finished Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor, which was astounding and a total gut punch.
The Longmont Potion Castle merch in your headshot sent me to the Wikipedia page. I see there are 30+ albums now. I hadn’t checked in since the late ‘90s. How’d you get into it? Any favorite calls you suggest for the uninitiated?
I don’t entirely remember how I came to LPC, but I’ve been playing in bands for many years now and those albums have always been a fixture on long drives on tour. That sort of weirdo alt-comedy has long been foundational to my tastes and sense of humor—Kids in the Hall, Tim & Eric (+ other early Adult Swim stuff), Neil Hamburger—but there’s nothing else out there quite like LPC.
I’d say that the first few albums feel a little rough—he’s finding his footing still—but everything from Vol. 4 to 13 or so is unimpeachable. Favorite calls, off top: Clown Motel, Blueberry Bag, Nash, Turtle Pleasure, the whole Trebek saga.
Your submission said you were unpublished, but Little Engines lollygagged, and now your work has appeared several places. How’s it feel out there in Submissionland?
It’s been fun! A grind, to be sure, but it’s reassuring to see that anyone out there likes the stuff I write. In pursuit of a more significant project to work towards, I’ve been mentally kicking around the idea of putting a chapbook manuscript together.