Hamburglar

I’d do anything
for a cheeseburger
after a hangover

rob a bank of beef patties
to settle my beer belly

drive through suburbs
shooting holes
in the ozone

fingerguns pointed
in the ubiquitous direction
of hunger

my consumption
would satiate a hamlet

I drink
each excess
down

as Ronald
desires me to do

did you see the videos

pink slime resurrected
as hamburger Lazarus

but if I won the jackpot
I know a Big Mac
would be my first meal

golden arches
a chorus of mmms
echoing through cortex

processed organs
replacing orgasms

is that on the dollar menu

(originally published in HAD, Summer 2022)

Resurrection

in dark crowds I look for your shadow
along the perimeter of park grass wet

my beer churns from belly-up to forget
seeing you again but for now loud thumps

and guitar squeals glow from every beacon
the way one holds to hope just long enough

to make it religious communion in every
plastic cup bought from jazz-blue tokens

I wait for resurrection every turn of head
with you wandering some sidewalk

I walked earlier how you materialize just
the body returning to remind me I cannot

wait any longer to be rid of wanting to walk
in circles until I cannot know any better

if you were ever even real at all

(originally published in Chantwood Magazine, Spring 2017)