Joe Pan

Odysseus Teaches One of His New Dogs to Say ‘I Love You’

Arrrr! O, arrrr! O, raw scar! How you ore our iron ire, ogre of Troy. Ere your errors, our ears
were ewes wanting of your airy rouge arrows: we earned your eros, you yearned our Ayes, sir.
Our whore hearts waivered after ruing a year’s worth of rows, errs. I, Arturo, heir of Argos, roared
a ruing yarrrr whenever a Euro won you whiled away, warning us of what you worshipped really,
we wags worn as Eeyore’s hairy rear. Without Argos, war. With Argos again: an eerie,
angry rendezvous, warped wedding of gore. With us, what? We the awful aero aura in your hoary ear,
were-owls worthy of no review. We’re in you only aurally. O’er an era, we were your
worries’ wooers, wan warriors of want, worshipers of you, awed. Now an aerie of weary, a renewing well
of woe, or worse, aurora of worthlessness. You war & whine. O why? O, grrrr! Your errors
whorl, rowdy as rowed oars. O Argos! Where are you? O Argos, where? We are you! I of you! I of you!

Joe Pan’s debut collection of poetry, Autobiomythography & Gallery, was named Best First Book of the Year by Coldfront Magazine. His poem “Ode to the MQ-9 Reaper,” a piece about drones, recently made the front page of The New York Times. He grew up along the Space Coast of Florida, attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, & serves as the poetry editor for the arts magazine Hyperallergic. Recent poetry has appeared in such journals as Boston Review, Denver Quarterly, Epiphany, & H_ngm_n, his fiction in Glimmer Train & Cimarron Review, & his nonfiction in The New York Times. Joe is the founder & publisher of Brooklyn Arts Press, an independent house that publishes poetry, fiction, & art monographs.