Say we have tomorrow the bare trappings of narrative
the last pack of cigarettes traditionally reckless
in velvet bikinis
meditating more and more on the path from the swimming pool
to the kitchen sink chili dogs and how will we blaze?
The red rocket ship launches unplanned
cognizant of the hours
the rapist standing behind girls renting a raft.
And it’s only because our zodiac sign
became a brittle skull
once we left the shopping mall
that the champion is putting his energy elsewhere
a moral gambit a trick poem again
lemon juice on my crotch to lighten the blonde.
It’s because of the long walk how the weather keeps changing
dappling the edges deer not eating the paw-paws.
You keep saying the leaves won’t turn inside out
the cats’ deaths are equal to the amens.
I leave my grandmother’s wig on the horse
crying to get past the vantage alarms.
I didn’t think the rocket would last.
I want to pray don’t know what to ask
do you crave food or do you crave boys
during summer’s dark roost?
Jessie Janeshek's second full-length book of poems, The Shaky Phase, is forthcoming from Stalking Horse Press. Her chapbooks are Spanish Donkey/Pear of Anguish (Grey Book Press, 2016), Rah-Rah Nostalgia (dancing girl press, 2016), and Hardscape (Reality Beach, forthcoming, 2017). Invisible Mink (Iris Press, 2010) is her first full-length collection.