New From Kitchen Press: Fingergun, by Matt Rasmussen

In the coming weeks, Kitchen Press will release Fingergun, a chapbook by Matt Rasmussen. Here's a small taste of what you'll find in this exciting new release:


Dream after Suicide


A hole is nothing but what remains around it.

My brother stood
in the refrigerator light
drinking milk that poured
out of his head

through thick black curls,
down his back into a puddle
growing larger around him.
My body stood between

the living room and kitchen,
on the metal strip dividing
the carpet and linoleum.
He couldn’t hear his name

clouding from my mouth,
settling in the fluorescent air.
I wanted to put my finger
into the hole,

feel the smooth channel
he escaped through,
stop the milk
so he could taste it,

but my body held
as if driven into place.
The milk on the floor
reflected the light,

then became it.
Floated upward and outward
filling every shadow,
blowing the dark open.


Copyright © by Matt Rasmussen, 2005.

Matt Rasmussen was born in International Falls, Minnesota in 1975. He holds degrees from Gustavus Adolphus College and Emerson College. He is a former Peace Corps Volunteer (Papua New Guinea, ’99-‘01) and was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He currently lives in Hopkins, Minnesota.