Apr 7, 2020
what wants to get let loose
while joe exotic sits in his prison cell
— bangs, grown too-long, like mine
experiencing captivity
sober &, perhaps, sex-free —
covid gallops on.
his new husband says joe might have it
the death sets in
it doesn’t stop being crazy
a baby girl is going to be born
into the next iteration of it
to a man i’d truly have a hard time not
hurting with my bare hands, were we to meet
and.
travis is gone.
thinking of ocean vuong’s
“on earth we’re briefly gorgeous”
& of his trevor, dead of an overdose
being gone.
thinking of these men,
poor & sweating, riding something or other,
trying to live
but still dying
thinking of male domination
of the impulse to be king,
of the desire for dominion
over all that is wild
the ways we capture
sound of the neighbor’s pitbull
barking, caged behind a metal door
the clanging of animal ferocity
meeting man-made metal
something inside me curdles
magnificent teeth,
no match for opposable thumbs
touched on the inside
by what wants to get let loose
5–10k tigers live in the US
domesticated, while fewer than
4k still live in the truly wild places
i’m inside myself
weeping at the addiction,
the hellbent on control
the orgy of flames,
leaping ever higher
heard some tigers
at the bronx zoo
have tested positive
for covid
what will survive these times?
we can’t know
it’s not funny
