THE LIGHTBULB CONSPIRACY BY ALEXIS SIKORSKY
we were astronauts and
beekeepers; archaeologists and mechanics; overseas teachers getting drunk off communion wine in a theocratic country with no believers. I was the blowhole in a whale and the trash heap at sea I was a groundbreaking invention hidden under planned obsolescence you were the vitamin C I took daily and the cold I caught anyway you were a ferris wheel showing a child the world at the top we were forks coming off of screaming rivers and diving into sidewalks holding handprints that weren't ours throwing rotten eggs into ditches because what else would we do with them and what else was there to do? I filled a cracked bucket with jell-o and left it on your porch because I knew you'd know what I meant you painted a face around the hole I punched through the wall because you knew I'd send a picture to my mom we recited mournful monologues on the bruises in our bananas we played pianos with our toes we pinched the sun between our fingers we were lost. we weren't alone. FLUX (POEM) BY ALEXIS SIKORSKI/ INSTERSTELLAR ROMANCE (ALBUM) BY SEAN BURNETTE
1
this is the day before. I kicked a sock off while I was sleeping. stood by the door, several doors, and I did not leave the house. 2 it was the green shirt from yesterday oversized load- ing like this truck stopping traffic in the dead of nowhere when I expected to be going fast 3 there it is. an expectation, rightly so-- but I can't help thinking if I blink it'll disappear. 4 or I'll disappear. employing cryptic coloration when no one employs me. but there it is. so there I go. so here I go. go. Go, omg, GO. 5 this is the closest I'll get to no man's land, and I'm proud to say I'm terribly impatient. 6 the song you'd play at 00:00 sunglasses and a scarf out the window but you still have your breath and a mission, an appointment: with the end of the world and you're ready, you're so ready 7 but now you don't know what to think. I don't know what to think. I don't know, but maybe I'll find soon, I do. if you do. fucking threw off my plan, you did. (as if I'd ever had one) 8 God, I'm acting like a stereotype. if I'm the thinker, I'd better get going now. 9 it's best to travel with strangers-- they're not strangers by the end. but then give it one week post- and you'll be strangers again. 10 I don't know how to work a pay phone but I'm out of service and so is my ride. can't talk, 11 was hanging off the back of a bus. am I supposed to be stability? this land is at too much of a slant. like, I'm rolling down this hill right now; he said he'd meet me at the bottom. 12 but did he? it was like when this kid said I couldn't climb, so I went up the tree in his backyard and bridged it over to the roof. I sat up there all day until he walked out with his sister. I hit him in the head with at least forty-five acorns. 13 I rolled down then too, but this time I didn't break my arm. I somewhat resemble juggled fruit, however. 14 nope, you're wrong. I'm not good at staying put. where am I even going? 15 gravity hurts. I'm not getting any closer. I don't know what you look like anymore. maybe I should cut my hair. it's where I carry my stress. 16 it wasn't long enough to donate. my flip-flop broke so I threw it out the car window into a ditch. you didn't know my name. but for a week there, I was really good at running. 17 shit's getting weird. a rabbit ran between my legs. maybe I should've downloaded that gps. I'm holding my keys between my knuckles. a plastic cutout of an explosive device hangs from my palm "I'm the bomb" 18 so the power's out, but only on the right. chill, it's just like that boathouse behind the meridian center-- keep your head down and your peripherals open, and you'll be fine even if you're alone and a little lonely. I found a hermit crab in a seashell. it didn't pinch me. 19 this guy really has an agenda against trains. like, a crazy-ex-boyfriend-bordering-on- crime-of-passion agenda. he makes really good mac & cheese out of the back of his pickup though, so it balances out. there's a streetlamp over the hill-- 20 nope, it was a neighborhood watch guy with a flood- light. I proved I wasn't a hooligan with my high school transcript. damn university wouldn't accept an unofficial copy and I'd never taken it out of my pants pocket. 21 I am underwater. I am everything. I have it all. my hands-- 22 they almost got me to stay. that's all I'll say. you'd think a place called paradise would have more porch swings. 23 do not park your car in Austin, Texas. no matter what you do you're wrong. 24 a dreaming dog. the way their legs kick; the way I'm kicking myself rn. bought a phony ticket. face down on the airport tile. 25 in sync. two toothbrushes by the sink. we can't seem to sink. we. ha, wow-- we. 26 but then again, everything always does seem to fall apart.
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