My Broken Tooth

Charles Kell

The night my father died the WinterOlympics blared fromthe floating TV. They skied downthrough the closed-captioned snow.My father looked screwed, a sparetire under the double bed. A purple marble like a giant eyefloating above his bed.I cracked it on glass, he said.His Ahab tattoo frowned under a dim lamp.Chalk in a cheek to pump down the shaky jaw.The drinker’s face repeats.Somewhere in Nagano a neon sign blinksmaking the faux fur gleam.

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Headshot of Charles Kell

Charles Kell is the author of Ishmael Mask (Autumn House Press, 2023.) His first collection, Cage of Lit Glass, (Autumn House Press, 2019) was chosen by Kimiko Hahn for the 2018 Autumn House Press Poetry Prize.

Cover of Ishmael Mask by Charles Kell

In Ishmael Mask, Charles Kell reminds us that identity is precarious. Kell’s collection is a collage of the journeys and interior lives of various wanderers—from Ishmael, the son of Hagar, to Melville’s Ishmael, and from Pierre of The Ambiguities to Pierre Guyotat. Each poem strips back the mask and beckons us to witness humanity in its barest forms. Captain Ahab’s leg, Ishmael’s arm, and Pierre’s severed head serve as invitations to consider hunger and hope. The inspirations behind these poems—the Bible, Heraclitus, Melville, Guyotat, Tomaž Šalamun—are transformed by Kell, conjuring dreamscapes both dazzling and haunting.

Ishmael Mask masterfully allows a glimpse into the human experience of feeling lost—even when right at home, even in our own bodies.

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