Madison Lazenby

CCTV of My Disarmament

[23:06:19] My favorite color is yellow. What’s yours? [23:12:50] My humors are in complete disarray: I’m all blood & no phlegm. I left my liver in the oven & my spleen in the freezer. Now they’re astronauts’ ice cream. [23:22:30] Is it offensive to say your smile feels like a WMD? [23:29:33] I’m as strong-willed & flimsy as a helium balloon. I’ll never touch the stratosphere, but I can wear a sexy pilot’s costume for Halloween. [23:34:16] Don’t get it twisted. Sexy is a political statement, but rarely a call to action. [23:41:45] I should open the window to let in campfire smoke & mosquitos. I have already blocked out my summer & winter for a whirlwind I can’t afford. [23:46:36] I’m going to lose so much sleep. [23:55:21] I’ve never fired a gun, but I won “Most Improved in Archery” at summer camp. [23:56:01] I can learn new tricks. I can accept a compliment when I deserve it. [23:58:49] I’ll never be a good swimmer, but I can jump off a dock like nobody’s business. [23:59:12] Tell me your worst fear.

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Hinge Haibun

It’s past my bedtime. I’m picking at my skin. I could win America’s Got Talent for collecting talented men’s phone numbers. I haven’t thought about the periodic table in years & you can see it in my eyes, but I can see potential within a fifteen-mile radius. I’m wearing my best Snoopy pajamas, waiting to be sexually harassed in delightfully unexpected ways. I have pushed movements back by fifty years & counting. I’m not interested in slowing down. I’ve got road rash just thinking about it.

I go crazy for ____.
I’m weirdly attracted to ____.
Don’t hate me if I ____.

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About the Author

Madison Lazenby (she / her / hers) is a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet based in Syracuse, New York. She graduated from Hamilton College and has received support from Brooklyn Poets, the Kettle Pond Writers’ Residency, and the Looking Glass Rock Writers’ Conference. Her work has been recognized and published by the Academy of American Poets, Anti-Heroin Chic, Gigantic Sequins, Passionfruit Review, and Metphrastics. Her chapbook Dirty Kitchen is available through Ghost City Press. Find her on Instagram @mad_mads_maddie.