23 thoughts at 23

by MICHAEL PERKINS

I love two people who hate each other 
I love a society who hates itself 
I wanna give someone a lollipop 
I can feel the evil twisting the cords in my chest 
I can escape any fact with personal experience 
I can’t change the silhouette of a fact I can change its
color 
I made friends with the woman in the closet 
I named the woman Irene, offered my starbucks to
fuck with her 
I was so lonely at 15 I took her to every pond in my
neighborhood
I tried to read her palms but her veins were strung
with charcoal 
I made an early death-list, I like to speculate 
I looked at the slide deck before the meeting 
I have a crush on death, wanna spoon its shadow 
I rip his voice off my neck when he doesn’t mean it 
I see mysteries on reddit I know enough to solve but 
I don’t have a voice worth more than privacy 
I used to steal your pain from the cradle and try to
kiss it to sleep 
I flipped into a bag of sour patch kids, I wanna be an
interesting fact
I walk on sidewalks soaked with cigarette smoke 
I accidentally left my lipstick in my speech coach’s car 
I wanna peer into your soul and lick it to sleep 
I wanna sing lullabies to your bloodstream 
I’m floating in a tank of gray waiting for you to show

Michael Perkins (they/them) is a poet and essayist from Cary, IL. They graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a BA in political science and minor in creative writing. They have poems published or forthcoming in Clamour, Transients Magazine, Montage Arts Journal, and elsewhere. In their free time, they like riding public transit, trying to learn music theory, and watching RuPaul’s Drag Race.

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"Urinetown" poem by Michael Perkins

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"Bunk House" poem by Michael Perkins