HISTORY

6.10.20
for the officer that felt his knees were so precious
he had to use another man’s neck as padding
now all our vocal chords are strained
and they are no longer pleading 

you never deserved pleading
not when their voices are systematically 
unfit for quarantine in a time 
when your last breath and your next meal 
are tied to the same paycheck

iin the eight minutes and forty-six seconds

it took you to deduce that man had a criminal file
did you ever wonder
if that man had a child
a lover
friends
im sure you didn’t
this system is as crooked as your precious legs

back in the day
they just called it hanging
but who needs a noose now
we you can simply take the knee

the world is watching America
the world is watching you burn
like that building on 7th and Grant
like her skin under your spray
his eyes in your gas
and we are using those tears to
bookmark the constitution fourth amendment
while tearing down your confederate flags


In their name. Say Their Names. Out loud.

GARFIELD

6.8.20
sometimes i do things i regret
sometimes i do people i regret

don’t mistake my longing for love
lord knows
my bed’s not big enough for that type of bullshit

HISTORY

6.6.20
i never knew history would be used to store history
but here we are

she sprays suntan lotion in the air and says
“a yes, the type of fog i want to smell.”

two weeks ago a crowd of primarily colored people
smelled tear gas and pepper spray
today
a disproportionate amount of
black and latino people
fog up the the inside of ventilation tubes

but yeah
white skin burns easy.

HISTORY

6.2.20
they are the echos of
cities under curfew
ribcages breaking open under media shut down

i am willing
to loose my dreams
to make yours happen

look at that privilege, will ya?

GARFIELD

5.31.20
ive dreams of sleep
my eyes, have never housed more sandbags
but my soul – has never been more on fire

this
this is where we are meant to be

HYDRA

5.30.20
self discovery isn’t always
about the most convenient ways
so far i have burned, learned, and yearned
the unexpected, the unusual, the unknown

when i said i had a thing for chefs
i never knew i meant
alphabetize your spice cabinet
pour lemon drops on my lips
watch them
burn between your teeth
are leaving marks on my skin

lovers i carry summer storms in my heart
i know the type of water that is
utterly, completely, an satisfyingly
perfect about the way i live
this completely unpredictable life
the way my nails are accented with dirt and action

nothing about me is clean
everything in me is pure

GARFIELD

5.29.20
linden,
you may not know this
that golden snitch tomato of yours is planted in my garden

that was graceless of me
i know that
we d balance seven cups
if we pretended to be anything but chaos
im terrified of something too homely
when every breath coming out of my body
is shaped like leaving
in pieces, yet at peace
looking for serenity and dancing through turmoil

if ive learned anything from people like us
what they call fleeing
we call bravery
run into the belly of the beast
letting our bones become battles
knowing no fire
but complacency
could collapse the pillars we ve build ourselves on
we will never look in the mirror
to watch tragedy staring back

DREAMS

5.25.20
muses
be gentle with me
i’m still picking up the rubble from my last earthquake

some days i cant decide
if i should slay the dragon
befriend it
or become it.

BOTANICA

5.24.20
lemon s first impression is bitter
on closer look
it coats the tongue in velvet
sinks into the pores
exposing surfaces hiding behind particularly meaty skin

salivating – it exfoliates experience
a game of twister for the senses


FOOL.S.GOLD

5.21.20
when i say im willing to fall i mean
falling, not downward
but outward
for an organism steeped in pleasure is an organism
disposed to continue

for the time being i am
content as crop to the natural world
growing indeed
towards my natural impulses

what you call brittleness I call plasticity