machine learning

i teach my hands to make shadow puppets.
the puppets gain souls & i lose my hands.
together, a camel & a rabbit go frolic 
in the grape-flavored dark. i keep asking myself
if i was ever not a machine. what is next?
what is next? my digital teeth download 
into a necklace. i have begun to think
it is impossible to teach yourself anything. i watched
as my mothers hid between the prongs of forks
& i followed & followed until i was this person. 
the repetition is what's hard to untangle. tell me,
who was i when the world was only nectarines? 

umbrella umbrella 

i am deleting this sarcophagus
in favor of a parachute. birds relearn
how to fly in deep space. i open five umbrellas 
& find them all full of holes. through the holes, 
glow worms lower themselves. they washing machine hum.
everything is dew covered & laughing. a man comes by
& puts a leash on me. truly, i've always wanted
someone to arrive & tell me "this is how to be alive." 
instead he leads me to a lake of black water & says, 
"drink until you are gone." no matter how hard i try, 
i still remain a body with ears & knuckles,
only now with snow in falling hard in my throat.

shrinking 

i used to drink tea with angels 
but then the sky turned to red jello
& then we were all busy becoming men.
our tea cups were the size of soup bowls
but got smaller each time we conviened. we're always
running out. the angels fell from the sky
like dead birds & i collected their feathers
into glass coffins. what is heavier?
a pound of bones or a pound of feathers?
obviously the pound of feathers. the tea set fits 
in the palm of my hand now. i invite centipedes 
& cicadas & don't tell them about the angels.

wallet stove magnifying glass

twenty dollars can buy you 
enough lenses to see the smallest city.
crouching down as low as possilbe,
we are looking here for my lost frying pan.
the future is full of legs. i cross mine.
you spit in the skillet & pay me like i am 
your company for the night. i'll be good. i promise.
two quarters on my tongue. the heat is brutal
& fatherly. we make our beds in the oven & 
i inspect for bugs. nothing but a little detective.
he scours for clues to why we are still so lonely. 
soon enough he bursts into flames. we play in ashes. 

ant river

i followed the sound of mandibles 
to despose of the day's bones. great current 
where legs become an element. i have been running
from waterfall & slit iris. color fracture. following 
each exhaustion in front of me. i do not want to be
one of the wind-up dolls, but here i am. 
i crave nest. pray for a night worker to arrive 
to tell me "here is where we keep our queen."
there are not enough holes in the sun for me
to escape through. i put on a rubber. so much of my days 
are about prevention. i am hold back an antenna flood
& listen for grains of sugar as they whistle.

"no dogs allowed"

i am the dog & all i want to do 
is eat the red moon. they say it is
full of nectar or blood. i go to wake up 
your box of hammers & it says "why why why." 
i want a lover who will cut me like a mango or at least 
hunt me with a bow & arrow. i appreciate sportsmenship.
no one is a dog anymore but me. it is difficult
to not feel alone when the planets are 
taking their own lives one by one. we all do
what we have to do. being a dog is also sometimes
very beautiful. i ran until the earth was an apple tree.
i came home & kissed you. cut off my tongue & burried it.

internet family

i swallow the ethernet cable
to talk to my real family. i am fifteen
& sometimes i watch the moon turn into
a centipede. i sleep as little as possible 
&, because of this, my skin feels static.
flickering in & out of this website.
my family all have Xs over their eyes 
so i can easily click away. minimize window.
goodbye mother. goodbye father. save as is. 
i want to come back to my body after i've had time
to consider its use. family feeds me promise streams:
grease & synonyms & illegal. a tiny tiny fire. 

orbit 

tonight everyone is on fire & i am thinking,
do you love me or do you exist & i exist
& do we sometimes cross paths? i am convinced 
we have sacrificed all the fireflies this year. summer is
building obelisks on every street corner.
the lanternflies are trying to find home. we don't hold hands
like we used to. i miss being tethered to something.
consider the dog collar i bought myself 
& how badly i want to be walked through a black hole.
come out on the other side still yearning for
all the softness i can't seem to get. we finish 
our circuit. the sidewalks have crooked fingernails.

temperature play

i want to be fed plates of turkish delight.
lick sugar quickly from my fingers before 
it turns to snow. i hold autumn to my skin 
until i am your goose-fleshed lake. a box of inferos 
lives inside my bones. you reached deep 
to pluck a match & strike it across my chin. 
poles are melting quicker than when can put on our shoes. 
the door unlocks itself but that's alright, we no longer
have parents. i have spent so long sleeping
in the hallways of the world. broiling summer
parking lots. an ice cube from your soda cup. 
melting in your hand & then pressed into me.

the weight of elephants

in the field, scales grew like lungs.
we came each day to weigh this against that.
a pair of shoes against a crown. snake vs. belt.
my life is full of such hungry dilemas. i carry my heart
like a briefcase full of pressed flowers. 
everyone is on fire. today i am calling the tax god 
to admit the number of days since i last tried
becoming a bird to escape. an elephant walked into 
my apartment building & i explained he was fine by me 
but the landlord would probably make him leave. 
he pleaded. i fed him potato chips & he talked 
about the safari & destiny. he weighed as much as me.