Comedy in those days was a sizzle reel of zingers
on a hot California night cruising through the lost
streets of Silverlake I picked you up we laughed
through a lethargic performance of the heart
and gave ourselves to the smog-filled stars above
(originally published in The Piker Press, Winter 2023)
Short
I Own a PS5 & Feel Empty Inside
my own capitalistic heart?
Capitalistic Christmas for myself.
Cannibalistic love
of self. Entertainment in the draw-
strings of all the passing
days. Shortages
everywhere and yet–
And yet I have
to play the game
to survive in this capitalist
world. Take my days
away.
(originally published in Stickman Review, Fall 2023)
There must be a road to this
When you unwrapped the Instagram dog poems
and said this is my favorite poet, I wanted the book
to be a swan, wings of canvas, a bone in a beak,
saliva, paws sprinting across the muddy landscape
of instant ramen.
(originally published in Vroom Magazine, Winter 2025)
Kingdom
I bet you have
a mansion. You sell
land at true
cost– blood-
soaked
beasts,
all the kingdom
in your pocket,
the precious
metals
polished
at your feet,
hungry stars needing
forever
more. I wish
that for you– my hunger
tastes of bitter
rosemary,
the dreams
of a plot
go on through
the storm.
(originally published in Trigger Warning Magazine, Winter 2025)
She Wrote Me a Poem
And my eyeballs
are on fire.
I used to like the sound
of a brush in flames,
and this is the same
thing. The burning
beneath me,
molten soil.
Running is my prerogative,
but my heart has to be
a certain way,
not not.
(originally published in Monologging, Winter 2024)
Regrets
Food being energy–
that I eat and feel sleepy
is some sick joke. God
the jester in
his birthday suit,
blowing out the
candles
in the unlit
universe,
this small corner
of it, anyway,
where
I have turned
my back
on everything.
(originally published in Taj Mahal Review, Fall 2023)
77 / Hallway
I look for the endless
tunnel highway of light
if I see the golden
triangle pointing east
painting the far wall
spilling into another bucket
you are close enough to okay
(originally published in Poetry Super Highway, Fall 2024)
Dynamic
Whatever power dynamic carburetor heat engine
lightning car accident awestruck hum? Sign me
off of your autographed lemons. Peach sticki-
ness on the homefront wonderwall water cooler
laughability. The job’s a job don’t make it
awkward staircase holly oxen pulling the cart
up the hill, old buffalo, the sneering stare,
the huff of whoever is there.
(originally published in Ballast Journal, Summer 2023)
pig
the carcass hangs
someone
try one on
(originally published in Versification, Summer 2023)
Scrub
the provision
the carcass
provision
the carcass
a carcass
to provide
the carcass
blaze
(originally published in Roi Fainéant, Fall 2023)