Poetry Project Newsletter #243: human machine animal

Originally published on The Poetry Project Newsletter #243

human machine animal

when i was nine i said hi in the mirror and was embarrassed
i hadn’t known there were so many of us
i’ve been a champion of self rule and early warning signs
i have dental anger, a tame handshake, and scotch tape
togetherness, shitting and vanity
curfews to prevent the disquiet
of her majesty’s good subjects
when everyone left i’d hang back and pet their soft sex
their wounded pink assholes
i’d rub their dumb ears
that guy at the train station
talking about his jolly green giant
what did you say? i said
he said what would you say if i told you
my jolly green giant
as if he hadn’t told me
and i’m naturally mouthing words
naturally in costume
under a car channeling
let be me the first one to say it: i wasn’t having fun
i’ll get in any body of water in front of the whole world
the thing about envy is that there’s nothing for you
i don’t want to write about how lame they are
my therapist calls me a cheater
you’re a cheater huh?
the hairdresser takes my hair in her hands like it’s a limp dick
asks how long since i washed it
my body’s changing color like the ponies of oz
and the line on the ground is a laser
is a crack
a scratch
a charcoal mass
is a ginger root
a green jaw
and nothing more
i’ll get a coffee on a friday morning
i’ll drive to west virginia with my mother
we’ll listen to all 24 books of the odyssey
in pennsylvania she’ll tell me to do
as circes does to odysseus
keep a man a cave, use medicinals