Listen buddy, I’ve got a map
of all the cleanest public restrooms
in Cleveland, Ohio. It’s growing
by the boutique daydream. It’s
announcing itself via public-private
sponcon floral murals. It’s elucidating
a well-executed plot. It’s sprouting in
all the revolutionary protocols of yesteryear.
It’s developing its own new code for
vacancy. It’s going for $1400 a studio.
It’s naming itself after a colonial slaughter.
It’s called Christmas to the children
of treason. It’s called warfare to the children
of here. It’s telling us there’s no there there,
there there honey, there’s no reason to act up.
I’m writing this from a bathroom stall. The
bouncer keeps pounding on the door.
He’s reminding me of my gender.
He’s saying plz bro just don’t shit in
the women’s bathroom again!
But it’s too late. It’s all coming out.
Brendan Joyce is a busboy in Cleveland, Ohio. He is the author of Character Limit (2019), a collection of poetry originally published as a twitter thread. He can be found on Twitter at @nicetryofficer.
