The Modern Truce

We must divide the world between us,
I’ll keep this town and the next one over,
but you can have the rest of them.

I’ll take the birds and dogs,
You can have the felines,
I’ll take board games, the Uno cards,
and all of the poets.

You can have beaches and vehicles,
I want the internet, and a backpack,
I want some cereal and bowls,
but you can take the forks.

We will have to divide our friends
in half, if they let us,
give me one half that listens
and a quarter that loves.

We can decide how much
they are allowed to love us
and on which days of the week
when we break them apart
into increments of time
and things to laugh about.

You can keep Walmart,
I guess I’ll take Amazon,
I want the bank, and my body back,
but you can have the hospital.

You can have the tattoo artists and
the bars,
I’ll take Amanda Palmer.
I’ll take musicals and
Chinese, but you can have the seafood.

I guess you can keep your own mother,
she is already divided enough,
I want English class and high school graduations
but you can keep your favorite teachers
and some of the morning announcements.

Our schools are mine.
So are the lawyers,
but you can have at least one judge,
all of the bodies of water and
the movie theater, too.
There is not much left.
We’ve halved it all –
the video games included,
the food, too,
the oversized hoodies and
whose trauma is whose.

You have Twilight,
I have Dr. Seuss.

Once I’m done cutting
my life into a fraction to give myself a break,
I hope you know,
at last, you must
“get off my side of the state”.

zombie Madonna

once upon a time
i stood on stage
with the band that saved
my life
at a younger age

suddenly, a decade of
memories played
through my head like
a bad video tape

in washington d.c.
halloween,
the dolls and me

dressed as a zombie
but never more sure
i was alive

Originally published in 2021 by Coin Operated Press.