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The Fall of 1992

By Randall Mann Randall Mann Read the Q & A

Gainesville, Florida

An empire of moss,

dead yellow, and carapace:

that was the season

of gnats, amyl nitrate, and goddamn

rain; of the gator in the fake lake rolling

his silverish eyes;

of vice; of Erotica,

give it up and let

me have my way. And the gin-soaked dread

that an acronym was festering inside.

Love was a doorknob

statement, a breakneck goodbye—

and the walk of shame

without shame, the hair disheveled, curl

of Kools, and desolate birds like ampersands...

I re-did my face

in the bar bathroom, above

the urinal trough.

I liked it rough. From behind the stall,

Lady Pearl slurred the words: Don’t hold out for love.

Source: Poetry (April 2010).

Biography

Randall Mann’s poems are often set within the landscape of Florida or California. Influenced by Philip Larkin, Elizabeth Bishop, and Donald Justice, Mann’s poetry—at once vulnerable, unflinching, and brave in its ambivalence—explores themes of loss, attraction, brutality, and expectation. Of his preference for working in form, Mann says, “Form helps me approach more comfortably the personal, helps me harden argument.”

Mann is . . .

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