YESTERDAY,
I drove by a herd of cattle
grazing next to a grave yard
digesting remains
through several chambers.

Rumin donors have always
done so involuntarily,
via man-made hole in the side,

Chained by the neck or
penned in a hospital,
for instance,
inside of any given University
of Veterinary Prominence.

4:27pm on a Tuesday in September.

Ice clinks dully inside of any given bar
and in several bedrooms,
on the east or west coast.

This is all true.

I bought this makeup today,
which I used to wear when
we spent our
days in the murphy bed
under that stained
ceiling with the cat clawing
at our wrists

The smell of the blush
brought all of this
back
with a potency that
almost made me pick up the phone
and call you, but
now it’s in my lungs, I guess
and here I am instead.

LATE AFTER THE 23RD

by nicole kuwik

Swallowing envelope glue

at 9 in the morning on Sunday,

I wonder how the hell

I can get my hands on a stamp

before my payment is late

Sure, ok, I’ve got some ideas,

but the paint is all dry,

the cardboard is packed,

and I’m scheduled

10 to 7.

after arriving late to a party and
holding my very
intelligent
friend’s hair,
we are sitting
in a yellow
upstairs room

“My highschool teacher died scuba diving
in those caves, he
ran out of air”

“They found a bunch of
19 year olds in there,
they found them holding hands”

someone makes a joke about rigor mortis,
and I have to excuse myself,
the kitchen is white and the knives are still
on the cutting board as I breathe into
the box of space between the refrigerator
and the wall

for a minute, it’s blue and it’s white and it sparkles and
I am not
alone.

I watch his pupils dialate
as he yells “FUCK!” outside
of the ATM

A lady clutching a baby
stares like a baboon as she
exits the steakhouse and I look away

It’s six o’ clock on a Saturday
and we want to make transfers
for cheap wine and movies, and
we want 800 numbers
to work without the 1s

Holding his statement
up against my face in an idling truck,
I laugh
at what we are trying to do.

Saving bats
with your bare hands
just might get you
rabies unless a boy
with a piece of tagboard
walks by to yell at you
“DON’T TOUCH IT I’M GOING TO
THROW IT OFF THE SIDE!!!!!”

You stop him of course
and there’s a baseball game
on Wednesday,
but with global warming
and all, and this new
fear of infection,
it may be best to
starve
indoors.

I remember this
one time on vacation
when my PapaPaul had
said something that made
us all pair up and
leave him
standing by the rental car,

But then
his emphazema started
to bother him and
I remember the look
in his eyes when
he just
couldn’t

get enough air

Well, the other night
after all that
clear, clear liquor and
all those H2O tears,
I caught that look
gasping into the mirror,
and I’m still
not sure
what to make of it

One .96 cent bank
account and a
hot pursuit of a
box of pasta
and a boy with earrings

But come on,
who can believe
red-truck declarations
in a black dress at
something like 1
in the morning when
the beach is to the right
and parking is free?

$4.50 is too much
for a vodka-soda,
I’m sorry

Call me tomorrow.

as I stand in my doorway
in sunglasses
and golf cart putters by
full of potential residents and
a blonde
Representative
named Heather or Britney
who does not wave

I note the rats behind the fence
and wonder if tomorrow
I will find a piece of paper
folded in half and
stuck in my door
notifying me
that it has recently
been brought to their attention
that I have been
standing in doorways
in sunglasses with bottle in hand
while golf carts go by,
and requesting
that I stop.

Garbage trucks
sound like school busses
until they start picking things up but
hearing them
stop
outside your floor-level window
at the dumpster across from your door still
makes you feel like you are missing
something