ADULATION OR BUST

it is sad to be captive
to a great, unforgivable thing
losers walk among us

just as weather does what it wants
nothing more natural
than pulling the weight of pain

yes, losers walk among us
and in the next life I want to be a dog
creature closest to the veil

sweetheart grips,
deer on the beach,
people in god

DEWBERRY

on the belly of my finger there’s a hypnotist
spirals of telling and letting
where being told what to do loses its meaning
where men will do anything for love but find reason

I keep a rotisserie wishbone on my windowsill
waiting, a bruised answer turns away wrath
hands cupped to learn my permission’s hold
when god said don’t touch your idols I didn’t listen

hell is a busy line at service, an angel’s empty quart thirst
there it’s someone’s job to pull uglies from the plate
to ensure a perfect dinner served on Mercy Drive
indulgence’s bail, hawk overhead

one foot in the haze, indecision and me
take resistant’s vow to Lucifer’s Den

A POEM CALLED THE SMACK DOWN

what these drugs taught me
a state of undress
the difference between fate and destiny
the death drive is a normal part of life
almost nothing is about you

how is your heart
have you given it salt today
our idea of god tells us more
about ourselves then him
I worship certitude and false swans
almost nothing is about you

rotten fruit always
falls on its own
farmers have been known to
feed cattle bulk candy
in hard times I lived
I laughed I loved
and it is over now
almost nothing is about you

it’s country to be in awe of things
god loves ugly all evil
stuff shows up in the end
so arrive early, stay late
notice how lawless always feels like a name
almost nothing is about you

Carson Jordan is a poet and the teacher of MIND PALACE POETRY, the workshop that makes your poetry better through the power of gossip. Her debut chapbook, GOOD FOR HER, came out with Dirt Child Press in 2022. She has been published and can be found on the internet.