ᵀᴴᴱ ᵀᴴᴵᴺᴳ ᵂᴬˢ

I peeled a recurring
dream off my eyelid

some reality
“alight, junkie”
godspeed, said

my beating heart
turned into a rock

I threw it into the pond
to hear what clunk
it would make
it clunked

ˢᴼ

I ran circles
around a cell tower

here are the facts:

a. I am not writing a novel
b. every sunset will be beautiful
c. achoo
d. om

perched on a wire, the oracle
who says nothing
but promising new beginnings
turned the rain
into cherry cola acid.
she turned it into amber alerts.
she spoke,

The crackle static & seem of the world
a horse gone hurdling.

quoth the oracle.
It’s all too awful to bear & then you bear it.

ᴸᴬᵀᴱᴿ’ ᴵ ᵀᴴᴵᴺᴷ ᵀᴴᴱ ˢᴬᴸᵀᵂᴬᵀᴱᴿ

whines about the economy, give thanks, give thanks,
as I spoon peanutbutter and honey to the lap
of the Buddha in my neighbor’s front lawn.

A running tally in the head.
Bluejays biting power lines.
Milligrams of something
in the system. Sustenance, blessed
sustenance.

With the lights off,
there’s nothing to say.

I think
it’s so hot when you say it.

JP Mayer (any pronouns) is a writer and English professor at the University of Southern Maine. Their first novel, Everything is Fine or Else, is forthcoming from Girl Noise Press, 2027. They are an avid fan of the band The Mountain Goats.