Adam Scheffler

AUTOCOMPLETE QUESTIONS

Why do I cry when I sing
Why do I laugh in my sleep
Why do corpses smell sweet
Who is my body shaking
Why does pain turn me on  
Whose body is it anyway

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Why do I laugh in my sleep
Why can I never ever find the right words
Why does the moon make me restless
Why does Lucifer have an accent
Why do bombs whistle
Why do bombs smell of almonds
Why do corpses smell sweet

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Why are funerals in the morning
Why are dreams and goals important
When does eternity start
How is desire different from demand
Who is my body shaking

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Why do I cry when I sing
When is forgiveness not possible
Do the dead have human rights
Why is the wind invisible
What is spiritual about cats
Why does pain turn me on  
Whose body is it anyway

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Why do corpses smell sweet
Why does nighttime smell different
What are clocks based on
What is a perverted spirit
Why pray at 3 a.m.
Do the dead know what time it is

ADAM SCHEFFLER had his first book of poems, A Dog’s Life, selected by Denise Duhamel as the winner of the 2016 Jacar Press Book Contest. His poems appear in American Poetry Review, Barrow Street, The Cincinnati Review, The Common, Plume, Rattle, and The Yale Review. He teaches in the Harvard College Writing Program.