such a small island, but it’s all highway
and winding road
men with hats, men without hats
inside & out
men at work
do the safety dance /
my father’s idiot friend
in constant orbit
an ’80s movie montage:
pizza, pac-man
& percussion
my father’s founding myth
painted
with rock ‘n’ roll sins /
como se dice:
it’s decadent
a pollo paradise
con los gallos caminando
en la calle
pero we would only come here
in crisis /
i’m sorry, that’s the most
i can muster
and i won’t feel bad about it
see
abuela was confused once;
everyone was confused
but we all tell the same stories
these days /
my father sports his
silicone jesus bracelet
tuning for an english radio station
he can’t take one more moment
in his own mind
que chevere
there’s:
a label on every city
an animal on every corner
a portrait of my father at 17
hanging on the wall /
i’m sorry
i called him an idiot:
why should we all not live
exactly the same each day
with reverence
and no new insight
Selena Cotte is a poet, journalist, media scholar & shapeshifter living in Chicago by way of Orlando. Her work has been published in journals such as Hobart, Juked Online, Olit, Honey Literary, and others. She can be found online @selenacotte wherever you think that may work.