Jodi Bosin
calling all angels
where do they end up, balloons
and other things that float away
i know all the angels says the man
who stands outside of rite aid
show me a tale that is not cautionary
show me a utopia that is not fake
is this the god we all agreed on
one who feeds on shame?
if it's forbidden why put the freaking
knowledge tree there in the first place
charles manson had his followers
dig all day for a place he called
the bottomless pit, is it not obvious
we are already there
when you take the dirt out from
the ground it has to go somewhere
people throw trash from their car
as if that makes it disappear
we treat the earth like shit
like those we love the most
we treat them worst of all
what the hell is wrong with us
dante said angels have no memory
because they don't exist in time
there is more than one way
to be sentenced to life
in his most recent letter
my friend in prison writes:
i've seen more than me and you
could even think about
the world's only instant pets
remember those weird shirts that were
all bunched up and then expanded
we loved the way they started out small
we want magic and will accept it in all forms
an artificial kind of brine shrimp
re-branded sea-monkeys by a corporation
remember how songs used to never really end
they would just fade away into the distance
i'm trying to listen to my intuition
but i don't know what it says, it isn't clear
what would it mean to be free
and would i know it if i saw it
the folklorist index says cinderella is
type 510A, persecuted heroine
we don't need options just because
the market created them
we don't need four different types
of buttered microwave popcorn
(regular, extra, movie theatre, homestyle
and that's just in the pop-secret brand)
would i recognize the line between
letting go and resignation
soon the host will let me in
soon everything will finally make sense
Jodi is a Philadelphia based writer and social worker with poetry online and self-published zines. Find her on the front porch and on Instagram @jodi_bosin.