"You-hold this bucket of milk. And you-emerge from darkness." -Heather Christle, from The Difficult Farm

Service

I was taking a bath

and this was where the confusion began

I couldn’t tell where I stopped

and the water began

I couldn’t remember whether my parents

were people or droplets

I couldn’t remember whether people

were solids or liquids even

it’s like the water took me in as it’s own

or I took the water in as my own

and we were both happier that way

it was then that I wished

that the bath would never end

and the truth is I only washed

behind my ears because the movies

told me to do so

"Won't you return if horses buckled bears into a hem in the woods?" -Joshua Marie Wilkinson, from Selenography

Coins

You ask me what I’m made of

and I tell you this

sparrow bones and dust

and bits of thin glass

so I break easily

to demonstrate this

I lowered my head and ran

as hard as I could into a wall

I did the exact same thing

again

I did the exact same thing again

and I wished that the sky

would fall on me

and crush me

"Good night Meredith." -Mathias Svalina, from Destruction Myth

Fruit Juice

I’m part bear part human

but only I know this

the best way I can explain this

is I’m made up of some bear

parts and some human parts

for example

my stomach is bear

my arms are human

my lungs are bear

my knees are human

my kidneys are bear

my neck is human

everything that has to do

with my appearance is human

all of my inside-works

are bear

there is only one thing

that is half and half

and that is my brain

my human half brain

recognizes how sad I am

for being such a contradiction

my bear half brain recognizes

how delicious I look

I fall asleep scratching myself

until my skin is raw

every night

"...and watch each other like stars we don't know are dead." -Zach Schomburg, from Scary, No Scary

Berry Tree

I’m falling from a very

great height and the clouds

are my family or that’s what

they keep telling me

as they brush me

across my cheek ever so

slightly as I careen

down through them

I ask them

what do I do when

I get there

they brush me across

my cheek and tell me

not to worry about that just yet

"I dragged the tail and middle across the road and laid them beside the head because snake+snake+snake=snake." -Sherman Alexie, from Face

Wafers

You’ll sneak up on a family

of ducks at the pond

and you’ll watch them swim

for a moment before

you crash into the water after

them yelling never change

as they fly off alarmed

you’ll feel a sense of abandonment

you’ll walk back to your home

and put on an old record

that you listened to years ago

and that you claim changed you forever

and you’ll forget that ducks

aren't ducks aren't ducks really

"Sometimes it isn't time for so long I forget what I'm hoping it's time for." -Suzanne Buffam, from The Irrationalist

Portal

You’ll walk into the house

and you’ll be told

sweetheart don’t be scared

you’ll be sat down

in the middle of a dark

room that looks like your

childhood room

but like a slightly

larger version

in fact everyone

in the room seems

slightly larger than

they should be

the one that looks like your mother

the one that looks like your father

the one that looks like you

you’ll ask

what this is all this about

you’ll be told

sweetheart don’t be scared

we’re just going to make you

more human

and the one that looks like your mother

will start poking you in your temples

and the one that looks like your father

will start stepping on your feet

and the one that looks like you

will stick a finger in each of your nostrils

and it will be an overall unpleasant

experience

but you will realize that

to be more human

isn’t anything more

than being poked and stepped on

and having fingers in your nostrils

"Yet later in our place an ugly toad half-opens its thick eyelid and one sees clearly: 'That's me.'" -Czeslaw Milosz, from Facing the River

Tea Leaves

Don’t be afraid when

all the orange leaves

float up and affix themselves

back on their tree

the trees will shrink

to saplings

and disappear

this will happen

with frogs as well

they’ll become tadpoles

and shrink into nothingness

old men will feel rejuvenated

and start running around the park

and when they see their reflection

in the metal slide they’ll be surprised

to see themselves as children

a bit later they’ll be embryos

and will then become single cells

and then they won’t even be that

everything that happened

will unhappen on this earth

couples will go back to their

puppy-love days before arguments

mountains will shrink into hills

birds will develop egg shells

around themselves

the only thing that won’t change

is the clouds

they will grow and shrink

storms will form and dissipate

as always

this was all their mistake

anyway