you: a lake in June
and I’ve forgotten how to swim

and how to find the lake in the dark

remember fall?
when the mothers picked apples

and we snuck through the church
looking for holy water?

I got stung by 20 bees that day
and didn’t mind

I like sitting outside with you
better than almost anything

at least because it seems like
you like sitting outside with me

I don’t buy brand name stuff
so much any more

but mostly just because
I don’t like spending money

but I would like spending money
if you liked spending money

or if you wanted to save an endangered species
I would too

ride on my gnarly waves my dude
exist in my oceans and I will show u how deep my waves can be
dude
man
bro
my waves will jive in u
like the ocean
always does

spit on the lava of my volcanoes
my friend
if u spit on the lava of my volcanoes
enough
it’ll do something really rad
if u spit on the lava of my volcanoes
it’ll create islands
with cultures and languages and shit
and u’ll look upon
gaze upon
lol
look at the sickness of my islands
our islands
we did them together
and u’ll think
“wow
that is really fucked up actually”

Post-Partum
After her baby was born, her family wouldn’t talk about the post-partum psychosis. Every time she put the cat to bed they switched the baby.

Whose Pet
Knowing she is an android, she’s fiercely proud to live alone. Learning she was purchased and registered by her cat is the surprise.

If the animal sees the knife before it dies, something inside it will burst open and the meat will spoil. In the butchery, when I was little, the animals didn’t have heads and hung upside down and skinless in the back room. But I could still see the vapours lurking in the open ribcages, the wetter shades of red that were weeping quietly. I still eat meat, but only the really processed kind.