your nephew said I was the cool one
(ripped jeans)      it gave me a kind
of complex     nothing was the same

after that day at the zoo      an old
chimpanzee contemplated death in
the corner of his cage       how life

knows a multitude of ways to restrain you
 I considered   myself                lost
in the crowd        not answering my phone

nor trying to find you     I know
that’s not feasible I mean we were kids
pushing kids     blue by the aquarium

glass    big-eyed fish couldn’t notice us
if they tried   the big room shimmering
in the gray January light   we trapped

(originally published in Visceral Uterus, Winter 2021)