Toy Soldier
They prescribed me a tractor
and a box full of hammers
and said find your true passion
in all that testosterone.
I broke myself instead.
When I eventually repaired
I was lost. Now I can only find
myself when I am lost. Today
I find myself bringing you home
a croissant and a poem.
They say every man is born
with a kingdom of bunny rabbits
inside of him. Every day he must
resist the impulse to kill one.
Whenever I am sad I wrap myself
in a tight blanket of fists.
When I was 14, two boys peed
on me in the locker room showers
like dogs marking territory.
A girl opened the door for me
this morning. A homeless man
offered me a hug.
At the park I saw a child
decapitate a toy soldier.
I recognized myself in his smile.
Our ancestors brought
home sabre tooth tigers.
I ate your croissant. All I have
to show you are bits of poem
stuck between my teeth.
Porcupines
The boy staring at me
in the checkout line
with snot and ice cream
running down his face
may one day become
president.
A father cradles his baby girl
like a football
while his attention
is pacified by football.
Every child matters
is made of matter.
Algorithms attribute
the rise of junk males
to the persecution
of the junk male.
A man in uniform sets fire
to a house
he’s sent to rescue
like a man in uniform
murders another man
he swore to serve and protect.
A sports headline
you don’t have to worry about:
“Two Fighters
Enter an Octagon
and Open Up
About their Feelings."
In other news,
porcupines
can hug
other porcupines.
Trephination
My head is sad again today. I took it
for a walk outside, but the rain
wouldn’t stop laughing. I confuse Prozac
for sunlight. You never stopped
collecting lightbulbs. Never found
a viable solution to the mind-body problem.
I found oxygen in the trenches
of a page. Poetry as airway management.
Poetry as life support. Staring skyward
from this pillory, I want to believe in
these wings made of pills. Doctors used to drill
holes in our skulls to save us from storms.
Father, imagine it was that easy
to exorcise depression through an eyelet.
