Two poems from Unemployment Insurance
I can't call this
anything close to dead
I have heard more voices than
I’d thought were still living
in the tinny tone of my smartphone
bickering & reimagining the
context of struggle I cannot
be anything but hope as this
empire of ashtrays further
incinerates, its disappearing hand
out
can I hold you
I used to think a century
was long like I thought a hundred
dollars was a lot. I take comfort
in how wrong I’ve been.
forgive me for
there are sirens all over
New York
I text my ex
I am with you wherever you are
I meant it sweetly but now I’m not so sure
the internet is full of distress, disaster
& desire leaning on one another
it is the struggle
I am trying to tell you
when this is over it will never be over
we can’t let it be over
this is the closest we’ve come in
a century
say century
that’s a laugh