Acid Pillow Talk
Deception isn’t the only way to manufacture
eulogies, mushrooms and oranges.
Magnetic fields can procure the same thrill.
Omission —intentional or otherwise
neighbors the red handprints
stroking my hair.
Eulogies, mushrooms and oranges
fulfill the prophecy of disappointment.
Omission —intentional or otherwise
isn’t the culprit
stroking my hair.
Fulfill the prophecy of disappointment
or don’t become someone I love.
Isn’t the culprit
something else dead?
Don’t become something I love.
Soap box a stock photo
or stain someone else dead.
Stock photo a soap box
deception; the only way to neighbor
manufactured handprints.
No Vents and The Windows Don’t Open
Me and Eve in apartment two split
custody of a purgatory demon.
Her therapist suggested she name it
but we agree it’s best not to name that beast
whose mourning routine consists of filing its nails
between wood boards and insulation.
The Wildlife Extinction Man conquered
most of the colony who used to rustle
the safety of Hoarders,
Wannabe Opera Singers and Artists.
Last January he set traps under the house
with their favorite irresistibles: pepper jack cheese,
warm body syndrome, cinderblock apologies.
There was a younger sibling—
we don’t talk about the hot water pipe incident.
Eve say bang a tv remote
on something heavy so it don’t feel
welcome. Consequences need
grit behind them.
Ain’t no space in my bedroom for
more blank histories since
I started playing patty cake with
the tiny red fingers reaching
for one more look.
________
Dom Witten is a Black poet raised on the end of a one-way street in Detroit, MI. She received her MFA from the University of North Carolina Greensboro with special attention to process-based learning. She is a co-founder and program director of the Poetics Lab which facilitates inclusive spaces for communities to engage with identity through poetry and performance of the self. Dom’s poems are obsessed with establishing a future with more joy, sass, naps and emotional accuracy. IG: @domthepoet22 & @tPoeticsLab