Spooks (the state who replaces religion doesn’t want to adopt a dog with me)
As I grow older I like looking at chaos
like the Westminster shows. You fight me
with your omniscience—dogs who look like dogs
are bred that way. Like I’m supposed to love
a rescue who looks like a wormhole
opened up in the evolutionary tree. Don’t call me
Noah, or some kind of dog park pervert.
I use videos of glossy-haired weiners
eating raw meat as ASMR
to fall asleep. Duck hearts and chicken necks are all part
of the deal. You love all ten hours
of video showing a mangy biter,
a clotheshorse chained to a fence since god
knows when. Bloodhounds have the ears
to make a cone for their noses so they scent
by following the ground
instead of smelling out. Just for the threat of it,
we’re who the other wants
as a pet. So it’s true you’ve saved me. But don’t
forget, this mouth could swallow you whole.
Spooks (dissection)
JA teaches me (it’s my choice) to cut
out the heart / of the emo tomato.
(With consent.) / My high school chemistry /
professor was kicked off / every jury
she tried to duty / when she had no
fingerprints / from burning them off /
on Bunsen burner hot plate testing.
She’s excited one / of the cats we had /
delivered in formaldehyde was pregnant.
Triplets. On the subway / PSA, three faces say stop
the spread wear a mask. One says not quite /
with the nose out / someone has slapped
their sticker / life begins
at conception and in small font /
and ends with planned parenthood. / when I was little
and things were unplanned, a stranger hosted me and made me /
lasagna because all children, even foreign bodies,
love lasagna. I hated tomatoes back /
then, a picky eater. When it was time
to eat, I ate / the bubbly, cheesy, crispy, adjectives /
that sell well in the food world. / The pool
swimming across the street / like a blue gem, a round cap
of a formaldehyde / jerry can. Things were different then.
She was a silk painter / and worked for planned parenthood, which helps
families plan when they want children / years later
my bioethics professor / find him on tv /
he pops out like a pregnant belly’s button / he’s the mean principal
on the simpsons / does a double take
spotting / me sleeping in the front row like a good
girl he shows / a tomato seed swimming
in tomato jelly / and calls it
anti / life and I will always throw up in
my mouth / at the sight of human
blood. (Any blood.) / Anyway
the sticker next to it is a super hot Satan
so sign me up! Evangelicals / doing their work huh.
He really didn’t hold office / hours of nothing for us.
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