1708 c/o LK Shaw

MISS AMERICA


It is difficult to be sad while eating avocado
or listening to rap music

but I have done it
a couple of times

and I remember
at school they taught us
it is wrong
to know your conclusion
before you even start with the experiment

so here I am laughing
at this office job

spending all day
thinking about slavery
and sleeping on that brown couch

with you
and when I wake up, uncomfortable,
in the early morning

and move to the other chair
you ask
is it something I did?

and I think
that nobody is really doing anything
and that words are only words
and I am growing sick of them

If I write a beautiful story
about a girl
who loves a robot
it won't be worth reading

because humans are
majestic
and I want to be one of them

At my work
they sell a product called 'artificial tears'
I don't care about irony

In my life
I am conducting an experiment
I am not a scientist

And in my mind
We are the product of everything
but we are alive

so how do I say
we have potential
without you
rolling your eyes

because I am looking at you
and I know
we are rippling.