alexa, i've given you all and now i am nothing

alexa, i’ve given you all and now i am nothing

alexa, always tip 20% december seventh 2018

alexa, play despacito

picking people’s pockets with your prose

dm me for my premium poetry snapchat

when can i go into the supermarket and buy what i need

with my clever observations and wordplay

alexa, after all it is you and i who are perfect not the next world

working class creative non-violent criminalz live forever

alexa, is this correct?

“work,” the word,

a slang, meaning

not making money

being busied sitting eating

or drinking coff ee, thinking

“when she says

sylvia plath,

does that mean she wants to

break up with me?”

absorbed self not even looking at

dundas street short shorts no more

ever expanding scripting scenes

avant-garde explaining this

“work”

and what gets in the way of it

instagram:

where nobody is ugly

and everyone wants to

buy your new book

my compulsively edited biography started

with msn messenger away messages

too bad i deleted my browser history

(wwwdotpornhub.com obviouslywithyouinmind)

(me in real life)

i’m good i’m good i’m great

ah,

you had us and you lost us

smashing pumpkins but not ava adore

don’t kiss me, i haven’t brushed my teeth

yo, this ain’t no poem, bro

lol

“adam was bored alone,

then adam and eve were bored together”

how to improve your writing in 12 passive aggressive steps

extremely happy until further notice

when I am drunk, I google defi nitions of words I use

just to make sure I am using them right

like

“proposition”

like

I want to be with you forever

that’s a statement

a statement is a proposition

what

my emotional cv on display

but love me anyway

lol, ok

who died and left you alone, huh?

wearing the melody awkwardly

“I miss about you regularly”

certainty in certain examples

how soon?

how late?

I am busy, therefore I am good

abandoned or overlooked

there you have it;

the answer to your question

I should start by explaining

zen and romanticism

the real and ideal,

at least for a while

painkillers and advil

i feel so close to you

my heart gathers disasters

fl imsy sheer black lycra

ordinary things in detail

people aren’t going to like that

what we want to avoid

is titling your poems as “poems”

5-hydroxytryptophan

“merci” pronounced “messy”

i’ll never understand what goes on

in that fur coat of yours

patient zero of my heart

that’s my name, don’t wear it out

terminally googling

all yr cracked iphone screens in heaven

i look awful

so you look good

(dorian gray baby)

you nuance the fl owers

and pop my pimples

make it memorable or whatever

obviously,

i appear asthmatic

in controlled situations

i’m friendly

i’m sweet

i’m mistaken

i’m sorry

green-brown eyes

of no origin

that’s what my mom says

totally blank

not precious

that’s it

a balanced relationship

on the brightside,

i don’t want anything else

making my way through this life

slowly

might i suggest privacy?

i’ve struck gold with a blank wall

and white collar crime

now i fi nd assertiveness daunting

underline all appropriate passages

the fashion became christian again

if i were to remove a word,

it would be contagious

the happiest

newest and coolest infl uence

at a reasonable price point

converse all stars

band-aids

berlin after the war

“the best words in the best order”

8 1/2 was an inside job

the wages of indiff erence are whatever

show your work

link in bio

please don’t stop

you can’t ruined nothing perfect

too long didn’t read

love in dog years

even venus was crosseyed

what exactly do we fall in when we fall in love

a better place is hard to fi nd

‘as soon as I start talking about my life, I start lying straight away.’

281-330-8004

celebrate life, romanticize death

living well is the best revenge

lively and lucid

initiated into mystery

reliability

trust

longevity

organic grocery shopping

everything is expensive

end of discussion

what that something was

oh, certainty

bias

rule-based, predictable

an anecdotal gem

specifi c

“yes we can” culture

seems to struggle

classically trained

stepping out of interest

something that ain’t me

i talk about insincerity instead

“you”

galvanized

meta

never executing

thereby nothing

“delayed experience”

a novelty, a big thing

a diff erent way to annotate infi nity

relaxed, lighter

cool, calming images

thinking of snowfall

and cats and

anything and everything i can’t aff ord

day job attention

paid and bought

here i risk ending on another cliche

if you see me with my head down

pulling my hair out

feel free to say “hi”

writing america without a lincoln tunnel

imaginary women an american wants to go to bed with

i’ve seen more prose in jellyfi sh

i’ve read better lines from eleven year old kids

in the white room

with black curtains

a pen, no notebook

all the french i can’t read

“new poetry”

i can’t have sex, i’m not horny

to suggest it

our secret

torture

popular culture

catastrophic fl oods

under normal circumstances

as the moon changes shape

so does my mood

“after all, the work is what counts”

names, dates, descriptions

the bolt of lightning

dividing loyalty

audition

new project doubt

frivolous dreams of glory and success

an amulet against forgetting

fl attering vanity

it’s the shoes, it’s the jacket

maybe he’s born with it,

maybe it’s an accident

in the grip of sentimental thoughts

a game of cat and mouse

the go ahead, depressing, bleak

more than a haircut, a shave

a strategy for contrast

out of contempt for details missed

“oh boy, i’m ready”

moving or standing still

simultaneously, at once

future tense

grazing smugness

getting things done

aggravated defensive but true

am I nervous in habit or repeating infi nite loop?

and defi ne mislead once again, could you?

a decision: how to spend your day well

envisioning the world in fl owers and breezes

resisting arrest on a cloudy winter day.

fuck, another quantum problem

yet all clocks go by at the same speed

what was i talking about? memory?

a more dramatic “now”?

it’s like you’re dead to me

“now”

too clever to be believed

like you, like me

most

poems

die

on the

operating room

table

cause there’s nothing else to do

every me and every you

antagonizing the other

as the no-longer and not-yet

i fold the paper again and again

you lose if i win and vice versa etcetera

indexed formal vocabulary

a sample, for example

heaven is an objective metaphor with you

tell me all the things you want to do

i’ve corrected you three times and

you still mispronounce my name

i order simple coff ee

and crave complex dessert

i screenshot my witty talk

after all,

i am very smart

with a strong academic background

a stunning revenge

more or less

a will and testament

describing my methods

giving examples

even if they’re not true

see you later alligator

after a while crocodile

no way jose

good deal, banana peel

don’t slip paperclip

know what i mean jellybean

you’re the boss applesauce

nice thinkin, abe lincoln

time to squirm, wiggle worm

time to sail, orca whale

here’s a hug lady bug

show me out, rainbow trout

good night, sleep tight

don’t let the bedbugs bite

before i attend a reading,

i google 24hour teeth whitening solutions

i worry about which shoes to wear

since i’ll be spending my time staring at my feet

better match my swoosh to my tie

i imagine reading my poems

while the song from sonic 1’s green hill zone

plays softly in the background

before i attend a reading

i listen to songs about you baby

i saw the best minds of my generation

googling their names obsessively

broke, disappointed, anxious

endless scrolling through instagram at dawn

looking for the right meme for the group chat

rule 12. anything you say can and will be used against you.

rule 13. anything you say can be turned into something else.

rule 21. original content is original only for a few seconds before

getting old.

rule 22. copy ‘n paste is made to ruin every last bit of originality.

rule 23. copy ‘n paste is made to ruin every last bit of originality.

rule 24. every repost is always a repost of a repost.

rule 82. nobody tells the truth on the internet

meme baiting poetry

ready made poetry

opportunistic expression poetry

i’m sorry i love you poetry

trying to not smoke poetry

“passive aggressive text messages”

poetry

i felt most like a poet when i was writing the word “poet”

on walls wherever with white out

because

my poetry is repeating itself