ismael luna
EXCERPTS FROM LEAVE ANYTHING
khalief,
here,
is the shadows of the sun
cup in your hands
this
reason
******
i clip news from
the shooting.
i fold the paper
like
i was taught to fold
homework
in catholic school.
*****
cactus silk
sheets
imagine you
waking me up
from a
nightmare
“look up”
(they’re smoking outside)
those cactus they
got fake
flowers
and
there are
too many
attics
here
*****
say grief enough times
that it loses
meaning
inside your
mouth
becomes a
wad of
chewed up
receipts
that you shape
into frames
for the
holidays
*****
ancestral knowledge
so
palatable
*pretends to be back home*
*writes about
‘mountains’*
*loves the coast
long distance*
*****
there is no artifice
here
: nothing
that i am
crafting,
validated and
adorned
that there is a
transition: is a
lie.
(but i don’t need
those things
except when i
always
do)
*****
(to my white friend who is pretending she is not white)
having to teach you
i am put
to theorize
love
destroy
yourself
leave,
anything
*****
stuff money in trash bags
bless a landfill,
nightly
the obscurity of
assault
Brassicas overrun
the curtain and
taint a
blown up face.
with oiled
blessing,
my mother made me
a suit at 4 in
the morning
so that
when i was young i
could
meet
with a boy dressed
like columbus