He had a nice smile, friendly and innocent-seeming. She wanted to tell him about her mother—she was exploding with it. She shouldn’t be here and neither should he. The universe shouldn’t be continuing without Bee-Bee. But instead, she nodded to him, trying to look normal and not ripped in half like a cheap pair of pants.
its already cold enough outside
the squirrels dont need to keep dying
i dont want to see that shit
& i dont even like squirrels!
But something Del Rey could not have seen coming from her vantage point in 2019 was that she might actually call the apocalyptic elements in the landscape of 2020– with startling accuracy— to the point where I’m half-convinced, though the song is called “The greatest,” she likely thought, whimsically, of adding a parenthetical title “(life in a disconnected zoom call),” not yet knowing what it would mean.
Not 50 years after Reconstruction and a decade after the World War I ceasefire, America sought fresh, bold voices—new visions of a united country, pacification. But Faulkner and Toomer weren’t interested in propaganda. The two writers revealed to the nation its bitter truths. They painted a country marred by obsolete traditions and crumbling heritage, revealing festering racism.
Swallowed a thousand hard-
boiled eggs, pushed aside
the artificial meats.
Ramen noodles were like a college treat:
soup, salt, & seasoning for cheap.
But I didn’t move. Lane certainly wasn’t going to. Instead, we waited for Dave to calm down and pass the giant spliff around. After his eyes turned dull and we sensed his will begin to sap he let us have our turn on the joint. We puffed away and then sank into a dense haze, dipping in and out of consciousness, forgetting everything. It was hard to argue this wasn’t the solution to everything.
Buzzards wheel through cold blue December
sky, bank and glide on arctic currents
circle leafless grey oaks searching
for new roadkill on the boulevard
Don’t kill Black people. Get a job--
one that doesn’t make you
The leader. Take back 400 years
of overcontested leadership.
Frankie’s (estranged) sister was a guest on the talk show of the 90s, the one with its own studio, the one where cars were bestowed on the audience like party favors, claiming she’d witnessed ritual murders. Frankie ponders, with irony, how he and his other siblings could have missed such memorable events. Repression, most likely.
There’s a scene where Lucy and Ethel stare at the old-fashioned (even for them, yes) lawn mower that they borrow from the Ramseys, trying to figure out how it works. Once atop the mower, and once the engine is “cranked up” thanks to Ethel, Lucy’s comedic prowess does the rest. The mower runs amuck, and unless you’re dead inside, you laugh for real. Lucille Ball utilized every fiber of her body for comedy.
Touch is just the tip of feeling. I've given myself
to particle of air and heat-rush, passing
consciousness like a baton into the hands of night.
you did not see them
in silver crowns
looking
for the crowns
on their head
but havoc must have is wreaking. Give me
something, anything to hide behind. My mother’s
party dresses are fading. The puzzle I thought
I could piece together is nothing but not fun
when they make love does he close his eyes; she wears crescents and crosses in her sleep.
beauty was a stranger scabbed with acne,
now swans nuzzle in a nest of vegan fur tucked in the corner of their room
swallows recite rumi from the balustrade, and the moon rises full above the veranda.
Remembrance softens tongues:
segue to Prince & Bowie
pieces of us buried
with them.
My phone chimes at the sale of my latest
block-chain verified asset
-the color purple -
not the book, but the hex code for purple
trumpet players catch me midair on one brilliant burst
falsetto kiss to my neck pulls me to plush&glittering
vinyl clouds my floating dance floor
I am a demographic data point
with a good credit rating and a Visa card,
Hokum isn’t a word you know at ten,
especially when you get to go to
your first PG movie, thank you, parents,
Your ochre ghost
cracks an egg
into my nightmare
and fevers a demon
through my chest