The frequency
of spontaneous crying
increases tremendously
since Tuesday
I read bell hooks Halberstam others
feel good about myself
push onward with arrogance
bigly into the deep dark
crevasses ripe for the grabbing
huge and tiny
hands alike groping
the popular vote raped
like the victim of a presidency
We go somewhere from here
on the well-greased slopes
of Palm Sundays
and family values
and the lies and fictions
of a house in dire need of repair
wishing for ear plugs
and safety nets from bumptious
overbearing jackhammers
who don't know when to shut the hell up
To be in public
is to subject one's self
to the capital punishment
of unrelenting mothers millennials
hyper normalized protest voter bravado
and enthusiastic privileged pining
such as this
Except for knowing when
to shut the hell up
to provide opportunity
for consensual misery
through poetry
and other obnoxious
soapboxed platitudes
under which to crawl in defeat
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Mack Carlisle is a writer, multi-disciplinary artist, and educator in Portland, Oregon. Mack received BA’s in Fine Art and English from the University of Massachusetts, an MA in Teaching from Pacific University, and is a current MFA candidate in the Visual Studies program at the Pacific Northwest College of Art.
of spontaneous crying
increases tremendously
since Tuesday
I read bell hooks Halberstam others
feel good about myself
push onward with arrogance
bigly into the deep dark
crevasses ripe for the grabbing
huge and tiny
hands alike groping
the popular vote raped
like the victim of a presidency
We go somewhere from here
on the well-greased slopes
of Palm Sundays
and family values
and the lies and fictions
of a house in dire need of repair
wishing for ear plugs
and safety nets from bumptious
overbearing jackhammers
who don't know when to shut the hell up
To be in public
is to subject one's self
to the capital punishment
of unrelenting mothers millennials
hyper normalized protest voter bravado
and enthusiastic privileged pining
such as this
Except for knowing when
to shut the hell up
to provide opportunity
for consensual misery
through poetry
and other obnoxious
soapboxed platitudes
under which to crawl in defeat
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Mack Carlisle is a writer, multi-disciplinary artist, and educator in Portland, Oregon. Mack received BA’s in Fine Art and English from the University of Massachusetts, an MA in Teaching from Pacific University, and is a current MFA candidate in the Visual Studies program at the Pacific Northwest College of Art.