sunday poem 7533967
he knew about saltwater taffy which is to say he knew red swimsuit and jersey shore which is to say ok boomer which is to say i was today years old when i learned this which is to say if a joke is told on snl is that the kiss of death which is to say i listened to your most controversial food opinion which is to say pretty green eyes that forgive which is to say it’s cuffing season which is to say too handsome to be taken seriously cedric diggory which is to say kill the spare which is to say urgent and necessary which is to say joe biden is one of us which is to say he knows the cost of a gallon of milk in 1978 which is to say sending a kid to college in 1980 which is to say sending a kid off to war in 1990 which is to say i stand with joe because which is to say he stands up for the pharmaceuticals and wall street which is to say somewhere in my car which is to say daring and vital voice which is to say don’t pull your punches which is to say 明察秋毫 (seeing clearly the downy feather of autumn; sensitive to the finest detail; omniscient) which is to say know your references which is to say we deserve to laugh which is to say we deserve to be entertained which is to say “doorwalkers” which is to say i thought you said “dogwalkers” which is to say “extra men” which is to say “confirmed bachelors” which is to say polite society which is to say bill blass and charles addams and norman mailer and halston which is to say valentine to ___ which is to say the same conversation swimming in my head which is to say my mother would’ve named me victoria if i were a girl which is to say gramsci said history teaches but has no pupils which is to say i admittedly don’t feel as angry (?) as i should about billionaires buying the election which is to say don’t revoke my progressive card which is to say any of them would be better than #45 which is to say except tulsi gabbard which is to say bloomberg is problematic but semi-competent which is to say buttigieg gets mad when challenged and his face puffs up and he has zero support with people of color which is to say does he even love chasten which is to say kamala should be catching fire which is to say klobuchar is a nutjob plain and simple which is to say she was shaking like a leaf which is to say midwest means white which is to say that’s disqualifying which is to say who’s our standard-bearer which is to say what about post-heart-attack bernie which is to say do the debates matter which is to say warren has a plan for that which is to say god laughs ha ha ha which is to say tattoo sleeves on lean beckham arms which is to say brooklyn which is to say play him like a ken doll which is to say l’amour n’existe pas, mais la preuve d’amour existe (love does not exist, but the proof of love exists) which is to say am i supposed to find adam driver attractive
le bain de cristal
rené magritte, circa 1946—49
. . .
. . .
Madame President
I rise today
Ass crack of dawn
An outfit that works
Jeter’s not my dog, I just support him
I’m flattered when mistaken for a college student
I didn’t realize ear candling was junk science
I don’t know where my yearbooks have gone
I’m not writing about gun violence
Who wants to read about that?
I read the Wikipedia entries of scary movies
Like the Crow with Brandon Lee
What if you were trapped in an airline magazine?
Midwestern steakhouses, shitty sweatshop shirts
Conventionally-attractive whiteboys
The world is right there but you stay in Omaha
Boys love your wood sage & sea salt
Their heads whip around
They ask you to dance
Take that, Becky
It isn’t healthy to dwell on how unresponsive Congress is
We all know Congress doesn’t do shit
Yes it’s completely captured by industry
I’d rather talk about my special interest in you
Your term-limit proposal is garbage
Because you’ll have new people who can’t even find the bathroom
And they’re going to be equally corrupt
So you’re really just trading a bunch of incontinent hacks for another
On Earth We’re Briefly (Cherry Chapstick)
When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of (Funny Azn Writers)
White Rabbit Creamy Candy
Edible Chinese paper soft and inoffensive
In your mind you’ve moved in with him
Living together in that Potemkin village
Your immigrant work ethic
Time waits for no man
You really like his
Big, uncut
Structural
Change
I like when whiteboy-Azn girl couples stare at me
With the full realization
That they have both
Narrowly escaped my clutches
Your poetry is pointless rambling
Your poetry is a screaming queen
Your poetry is evil poet Chen Chen
Let’s instead have our pillowtalk about superdelegates
It’s not colonialism
It’s sadism
Forget hearts and minds
Why don’t you follow your own advice?
People think politicians don’t care because nothing ever changes
They’re right
People think politics is elitist
Yes but clearly any buffoon can do it
People think party labels define someone’s character
In this day and age, maybe
People think what they do matters to humanity
If you’re rich and white, maybe
They say I write for dominant gaze
But
No
I write for subs too
Citizens United
No money no honey
Happy wife happy life
Mother’s milk of poetry
You bloom
You ache
You want justice
Butterface Ansel Elgort folds me into origami
If we had an actual conversation
You would know that “anything”
means
“anything but Chinese”
No fats
No femmes
No Azns
No fun
You thought Oscar de la Renta still alive
You confused fugu (pufferfish) with fugue (????)
You mistook me for my Azn colleague
Haha jokes I have no Azn colleagues
So many poets are all doom and gloom
When there’s a blackout, the murderers come out
It’s that type of society
What do you want from me?
Her new bloke looks like partial birth abortion
The heart of a flea and the brain of a shark
Notable talent
Catch sperm with mouth
Culture warrior’s manifesto
How to be alone
Dirty hustler
You are bent
Where are you really from
The future
Your English is very good
Yeah and you look like Leni Riefenstahl cousin
You people are so smart
Yeah just don’t make me do calculus
Honeypot
Waiting for heartache
Fast love orange Play-Doh
Tangy despacito lime meringue pie
“Sweet is the memory of past troubles.”—Cicero
Dear Sir or Madam
Sounds too binary
So are we back to
To Whom It May Concern
They parrot the talking points
They say the right lines
They make you believe
But it’s a shell game
Watch their hands
They still vote wrong
. . .
. . .
electric lemon
You know the story
He became the rain
Then a roaring fire
Face impassive
Flames licking warm & thick & ferocious
The furl of his shirt in hot air
The room glowed
The walls cracked & fissured
The ceiling deposited poisonous fruit
It was a forest & then it wasn’t
She watched the boy disappear into a man
& the man disappear into a desert
When the basement started filling with foxes
They vowed never to play house again
solitaire boys follow me
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As my head is bowed over meatloaf, I see God. Damn it, I think, should’ve gotten wings. Dude, I tell God, I’ve had a really long day. I make a mental note, the world is a mess but his hair is perfect.
-
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He stands there, all musk & indecision, looking like he never misses a session of SoulCycle, figuring out how to love me. After much thought and prayer, he feeds me bacon & heart disease. It feels like home, truly, as the color drains out of my Roadrunner sweatshirt. I confess, I don’t know how to make the prophecy better.
-
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God fastens himself to my body, we are wild horses running in tandem, poppies in his opium war. Sugar, I say, don’t worry. I don’t need anything from Tiffany. He looks relieved.
-
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Sometime later, I spot him holding court at Little Caesars, my invitation conspicuously lost in the mail. Another time, he’s papped on the Spanish Steps in his burnt orange polo, arm around a blond boy named Jasper.
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betrayal, 背叛, rewind, 倒帶
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I leave God a voicemail. Tell me how you want it, I plead. Love begets jealousy begets hate begets love begets nothing left. I hope I remember not to die in worship. Problem is, I don’t want to sleep alone.
MICHAEL CHANG (they/them) poets to feel alive. Their writing has been published or is forthcoming in The Minnesota Review, Yellow Medicine Review, Heavy Feather Review, Thin Air, ellipsis... literature & art, Q/A Poetry, Yes Poetry, Typo Mag, Wrath-Bearing Tree, Bending Genres, The Hunger, Cabildo Quarterly, Willawaw Journal, Neon Garden, The Conglomerate, Queen Mob's Tea House, London Grip, Rogue Agent, Kissing Dynamite, BULL Fiction, Animal: A Beast of a Literary Magazine, Collective Unrest, Pink Plastic House, Little Rose, Milk + Beans, and elsewhere. They are the proud recipient of a Brooklyn Poets fellowship.
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