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.