mario gallivanting
over mushrooms
long after conquering
bowser
peach resigned
to every castle
being a sort of
fiery hell
accusations of
lusting after
luigi following
swallowing
enough dust
in adventure’s wake
to question why
love plots have
a protagonist
i am a bandit,
stealing context
from simple facts
you are a bandit too
hard not to become
the type of person
i stand accused of being
fire in the hole
sort of feel like
an earthworm uprooted
in stormy migration
hammering out
frustrations on
a grand piano
trying to find my
place on your
cluttered checklist
sort of feel like
an earthworm dried up
on the sidewalk
this is a poem for
all you men i
sat with
over coffee, pints
or stronger spirits
in mason jars
all the while
offering you handfuls
of thought and soul,
of amity’s currency,
of platonic love
and years later,
calling me up at
ungodly hours, to say
you only ever
wanted to
fuck me
and it’s a compliment
and why am i yelling
this is a poem for
all you men i
sat with
over coffee, pints
or stronger spirits
in mason jars
all the while
offering me handfuls
of perfumed bullshit,
of lust’s currency,
genuinely believing
you’d bought me
and years later,
calling me up at
ungodly hours, to say
you only ever
intended to
collect
and would i come over
and why am i yelling
i feel like a candidate for conquest
i feel like the chicken
in that steinbeck book
i feel like a trophy
you could see on
your mantle
i feel like a brain whose value
lies only in her mechanical ability
to control a nervous system that could
arrange my body into all your fantasies
a mass of bones and bubbles,
a mess of good intentions and flawed actions
a slow growing moss on a creek bed
the lazy prodigy –
what everyone else could do
with my glorious, golden brain
the lazy lover –
what everyone else could do
with my brilliant beating heart
gemini pearl,
sand and nacre,
defined by duality
but all that unwavering
constellation worship
is bullshit anyway
occasionally get stoned
to watch a musical or
think about how gentle
your lips really are
a season summed up
in dandelions, coffee
and not wanting
to die
last day to submit for may’s publication! poetry, short fiction and visual art relating to the theme “sensory”. email to occultgeometryzine@gmail.com.
cheers,
sydney
weaving half-drunk through
baking streets because
the dogs are all smiling
and i want to pet them
brilliant paper banners under
blooming palm canopies and
a seascape so dreamlike
i almost believe in something
populating ashtrays as
a drunk dances down dirt roads,
making promises i intend to keep
in this enchanted ocean town
antique bus breezing down
lush jungle highway and
me in my perfect black hat
forgetting how to breathe
colourful salvage along
cobblestone streets with
sweaty palms and this
wonderful intensity
seeping through
i have bought a children’s toy,
bubbles motoring through
tropical neon night and
i can’t hold your hand
tightly enough
resonant bell world 