and you issey miyake
“I’m going under, and this time, I fear there’s no one to save me”—Lewis Capaldi, Someone You Loved
“Learn to take it / or you’ll always be alone”—Aaron Smith, Primer
evan
my little lamb
pale as milk
my haunted object
bashful confidence
dimples blazing
hang out with me forever
black confetti raining down
the rooms in my heart flooding
mercy
there is apparently a real town called
truth or consequences nm
i saw it in someone’s bio
he splits his time between new york city & the french riviera
i split my time between the truth & trifling of boys
between sweettarts & house-brand grape soda
Pull the heavy curtains shut
I think we’re finally speaking the same language
You talk a good game
Fall flat like the Obamacare website
Battle cry of dating-app boasts
Blaze forth destroying oceans
You ejaculate precious stones onto my belly
I’m blinded by stardust
I cut you open & pearls fall out
Engorged & glistening
For days I lick them clean
Put them to my ear
Trying to discern their howls & echoes
You just sat there & ate your food
You scooped me clean of liquid courage
Golden beams of light
Tipped your head back
Wept in black & white
Your kisses tasting like jelly
Thighs feeling like Tibetan Yak
Waves crashing against my
Rocky shore
Shooting me with your feathers
Falling luminescent black and blue
Rolling over in my chest
Is that how they built the pyramids
You say I’m the oil for your lantern
I’m all the different knots you learned in Scouts
We are safe
We are safe
I yield
I yield
america’s sweetheart
is Brett a human boy with sneakers and a best friend named Tate or Donovan or Tate Donovan and a cat named PJ who thinks self-driving cars are the future who is into sports but doesn’t talk about it incessantly and watches porn but nothing too kinky Brett in Poli Sci class who skips an exam to go to Hersheypark where he inevitably has his hand up the skirt of some unsuspecting girl who thinks she has found the one and perfect to bring home to her family in Swarthmore and hair like J.Crew model circa 2008 and like the chick in Umbrella Academy who can make people do things Brett knows he’s cute with an unassuming floppy brown mop that could easily be a fashion haircut that is conservative yet modern and slick and clean and costs more than John Edwards’ or AOC’s and could independently take over a motel in Iowa Young Brett with his birthright citizenship and Fourteenth Amendment protections he never really needs and always treats other people with respect and never accidentally replies-all with something indecent or inappropriate so PC principal never has to say shit Brett who orders a Tito’s and soda though the restaurant doesn’t serve hard liquor and yet the mousy waitress scrambles to go someplace sketchy on Sixth Avenue to get it so Brett is happy though he never throws a tantrum in public but she doesn’t know that Brett is an undecided voter
–Art by Mick McClelland