Three Poems
Leslie Magazine
Gender Reveal
So we pop balloons and pull strings
from boxes bat a piñata
twist the bottom of a confetti cannon
we slice the cake we lead
the horse covered in ribbons
out from behind the barn
strike the exploding baseball putt
the exploding golf ball fill a car exhaust
with powder and let the wheels spin
and that bubble gum/ rose/
magenta/ peach/ lemonade/ salmon/ cerise/
punch/ fuchsia/ watermelon/ pink
(or that) cyan/ sky/ carolina/ royal/ electric/
true/ blue decides the space
that surrounds us and she is
holding her face and falling
to the floor and he is
running with his hands
clenched in the air
and once someone played
a trick by putting both colours
in the box and once
the balloon was let go before
it was popped and once
a target filled with explosives
caused a wildfire and once
the cake came out green
instead of blue
and everyone had to pretend
like they hadn’t noticed
In the Back of the Car
Greece is standing still but rotating and it is like how a hologram shudders when walking past it backwards and it is like I’ve got somebody else’s glasses on. Dad is singing along to ‘the car CD’ which we have on when he’s giving me a lift to school [when you squeeze me real tight] and which we have on when he’s driving to Ikea [you know you make wrong things right] or to our family friend’s in West London and home is picked up and dropped at the edge of a dirt road [and I can’t stop loving you] and the comfort I get when I can hear radiators clang on [and I wont stop calling you] becomes like how an octopus is hanged out on a telephone wire to dry.
Catfish
they used to tank cod from Alaska all the way to China
When it was a woman with body dysmorphia but was actually a boy with shabby facial hair. When it was a young blonde with dark eye-makeup but was actually a man who
they would keep them in vats in the ship
liked to sniff out married men searching for young blondes with
dark eye-makeup. When it was a friend of Kanye West but was actually a scam artist who was later arrested for eleven
and by the time the codfish reached China
terror offences. When it was a man called Derek who had helped you through difficult life experiences for eight
the flesh was mush and tasteless
years, and was actually a man called Derek who later proposed to you. When it was ‘Lil’ Bow Wow’ but was actually an aspiring female rapper called Dee. When it was a woman called Caroline who was suffering from colon cancer
so this guy came up with the idea
just like your mum but was actually a woman called Heather who has catfished you once before. When it was a
that if you put these cods in these big vats
young attractive model called Skylar but was actually a middle-aged man practising how to chat up women. When it was a man called Tony but was actually your cousin who is angry that you called her a ‘fat ass Kelly Price’ three
put some catfish in with them
years ago. When it was a marine called Brian and was actually a marine called Brian who was arrested on the day of
and the catfish will keep the cod agile
meeting you for carrying a weapon of mass- destruction and was also already married.