01
Cows are Vegetables
Reclined among cushions, I name the pasture green,
and so it is: the beast consents to leaf and stem.
A voice without a mouth ornaments,
- Cows
- Vegetables
- Mouth
- Hunger
Movement I
Taxonomies of Want
Naming becomes appetite. Lists turn soft, controlling, intimate, and strange.
7 poems
02
Preliminary Notes from the Pasture
1. Opening Assumption
Green was declared
and the field complied,
- Preliminary
- Notes
- Pasture
- Body
03
Two Mornings and Two Nights (text message, unedited)
This is what I sent:
Not to sound crazy,
but did you hear me
- Mornings
- Nights
- Text
- Message
04
Tickle with a Side of Pickles
He said—you’re too starchy.
- Tickle
- Side
- Pickles
- Stamen
05
Puffin, My Peanut
I can feel the sweetness
oozing (in my mouth)
as I crunch on that
- Puffin
- Peanut
- Mouth
- Night
06
Hungry, Dear?
Where pigeons
dance their chaotic ballet,
my friends
- Hungry
- Hunger
- Pigeons
- Dance
07
A Seedless Garden
A poem about land use
(I can see your building now).
I think you told me land use
- Seedless
- Garden
- Seed
- Body
Movement II
Remedies and Instructions
Care arrives as ritual, apology, debt, intoxication, and the body trying to stay useful.
6 poems
08
A Cock for Asclepius
Remember those little ducklings?
Blue Dawn on TV,
except a bigger ocean than my sink,
- Cock
- Asclepius
- Body
- Mouth
09
Plants Do Not Drink
Curiously,
I do not think
my garden drinks.
- Plants
- Drink
- Garden
- Water
10
My Truck
Your trusty steed warms
up like Jacob Elordi
does in the sun and
- Truck
- She
- Trusty
- Steed
11
Hercules
The only gay bar in Helsinki is in a mall.
Third floor, past the food court,
as if desire required escalators.
- Hercules
- Body
- Night
- Drink
12
Dear Robyn
I hope you are well.
And that the hit Broadway Musical
“CHICAGO” coalesced shards of
- Robyn
- Hope
- Hit
- Broadway
13
Vegan Chicken Wings
I’m on the couch this counts twelve minutes
twelve minutes says the box twelve minutes
the oven hums like it wants credit
- Vegan
- Chicken
- Wings
- Text
Movement III
Contact
Touch becomes protocol, risk, longing, gossip, shame, comedy, and proof.
10 poems
14
What I Would Do to You
I want to get my hip
sockets broken
by this man
- Vine
- Rabe
- Hole
- Man
15
Shucks I'm the Cuck
With willingness, premeditation—
a predilection—
I watched him get fucked.
- Shucks
- Cuck
- Drink
- Fucked
16
585
(the facts and the ruling don’t agree)
- Body
- Mouth
- Law
- Text
17
Contact Tracing
1. Case Definition
Contact is any moment
a boundary stops being a line
- Contact
- Tracing
- Body
- Mouth
18
Spread
Did I have any when I left?
when I came?
when I went?
- Spread
- Milk
- Left
- Came
19
Steamer Theory at 10 A.M.
I was not supposed to be there.
Start there.
- Steamer
- Theory
- Body
- Mouth
20
No Return Label
I came home at ten in the morning
with the night still on me,
not metaphorically,
- Return
- Label
- Body
- Mouth
21
I Just Wish That
We would all acknowledge that
I've sometimes pooped.
Good: I poop. Bad: I get hungry.
- Wish
- Sometimes
- Eat
- Happy
22
Should I Touch It
You know when you start
that first vine that grows
it’s kind of like you thought
- Touch
- Vine
- Start
- Grows
23
Fuck
I am laid in bed
to rest—
and yet
- Fuck
- Bed
- Love
- Laid
Movement IV
Compost and Weather
Rot, errata, climate, aftermath, and a last attempt to make the mess hold together.
5 poems
24
Compost Confessional
I told the zucchini
my secrets last night.
It said nothing
- Compost
- Confessional
- Night
- Bed
25
Buttered Butterflies
They are not symbols.
- Buttered
- Butterflies
- Body
- Hunger
26
Errata for Warm Spirals
1. Shape Notice
“Swirl” was used colloquially
to imply return,
- Errata
- Warm
- Spirals
- Body
27
Cinnamon Buns (Miami)
It really was as I wanted,
I know apathy,
but was it a party or
- Cinnamon
- Buns
- Miami
- Hunger
28
Coda
In the beginning, things were made
because something had to happen.
Light stayed.
- Coda
- Water
- Wasnt
- Hurt