Alyssandra Tobin

im leaving on the next train to go go gadget town

im going on a trip to see friends who hate mei want to see my cat smilei want the world to smilewhen i smileand i want the world to stop dead in its cumulonimbus trackswhen i start to cryand oh cats can lick every pary of their furry bodiesand what do i have to show for having been born onto this strange hump of space we call earthi have nightmare colored lipstick i guessand a whole drawer of mismatched socks okayand a painting by a french man on my wallit’s real canvasit’s deer in a forest walking into a sullen penumbrainto the dim foggy moon of a european sky or someplace deer liveoh to be able to lick my tail what a treatto be able to cuff myself to the nearest lamppost and see who comes enquiringoh to remember that nothing is my faultand so at the same time everything isi apologize to my mom and my dad onlyim sorry for being hooked up to wiresthat paint a stupid picture of my brainim sorry for getting giddyover strange people in leather outfitsim sorry i cant lick my tail

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About the Author

Alyssandra Tobin is the author of PUT EYES ON ME NOT LIKE A CURSE, published by Quarterly West in 2022. Her poetry appears in Poetry Northwest, Puerto del Sol, Gigantic Sequins, Banshee, Grist, and elsewhere. Find her on Twitter @AlyssandraTobin.