SYLVIA JONES
SYLVIA JONES
BECAUSE THE IDEA
OF HAVING KIDS IS MUCH
OLDER THAN MASS SHOOTINGS
Together wherever they are
at the bar in heaven
or perhaps some
different room
altogether or maybe
even right here right now
like us on this stain
ridden mattress California
queen we smuggled
out from your cousin’s basement
after hurricane
I went downstairs for a nap
and met our doubles fast
awake, and steadily gene-splicing
our ghosts as we slept like newborns
second chance is downstairs taking old doors
because you’ve had a scare of knowing
all the poisonous berries in Pakistan
if I need a new kidney, why does it matter
if I’m black or white or hispanic?
The sleeping man in the entrance of
the elementary school had a giant guess bag.
Another extraordinary harmonica player.
Another extraordinary harmonica player.
and you’d say, everybody has a shark
that they think is a life-jacket
and then I’d say
you’re sunbathing
but there’s no
sun out.
MOUSE WARS
107 Plum Street:
There’s a hole in the wall behind the floor cabinets in my kitchen.
Got the only path coming from it via the corner, shoved with bait
and a sticky trap. It’s amazing how little space they need to get in.
Haven’t found any evidence of them in a year.
What did it take to get here? Renovations.
One day, I’ll retrofit the cabinets and finish
the job — cement board, here I come.
Let it be known I fully support
the cat approach if it works for your living situation,
but not all cats are mousers.
Got to seal up your house or you will keep having the same issue.
I’ve narrowed their entry points into my house down to one.
I do see minor signs of mice, but it is nothing compared
to the last two winters— We were literally overrun
with gaggles of mice.
So yeah, get rid of your mice with rats.
40 W Biddle Street:
I’ve been battling mice for 3 winters! After about a year and 800 bucks
to a pest control “expert” I’m seeing more of the little critters than ever.
All the pest control does is send someone out quarterly, fill the bait traps
and charge me $90.00. The mice have learned to avoid the capture, glue,
and snap
traps that I’ve put out. I feel like I have plugged every hole. They laugh
at my glue traps.
This winter, they’ve almost disappeared, and I’ll tell you why. Rats.
The rats have taken
over in the foundation and all around the house I rent from
(I’m in the attic unit).
The landlord hired an exterminator, but the big holes outside are
multiplying.
I assume the rats.
ANOTHER VIOLENT INFLECTION POINT
Gorbachev dies August 2022
and all the pictures of Robert E.
Lee got taken down upstate
at West Point my cousin Noah
said to my Uncle Rob who told Grandma, who
then called and told me earlier today between
meetings that Steven Biko’s forehead looked
shiny as hell in an old photo on TV.
As everyone’s inflation worries
ebbed I always wondered why hurting
stands so much and how well
I’m metabolizing my antidepressants:
like peace to the mind
health to the body
I hate seeing the dykes
not get what they deserve.
I hang out on a subreddit devoted
to people seeking help.
See how the poem creates
time and distance?
What better boosts
the floating offshore wind energy?
The blue-black box of sitting
down on the couch and whining, or
an unedited brightness across the
room?
OF HAVING KIDS IS MUCH
OLDER THAN MASS SHOOTINGS
at the bar in heaven
or perhaps some
different room
altogether or maybe
even right here right now
like us on this stain
ridden mattress California
queen we smuggled
out from your cousin’s basement
after hurricane
I went downstairs for a nap
and met our doubles fast
awake, and steadily gene-splicing
our ghosts as we slept like newborns
second chance is downstairs taking old doors
because you’ve had a scare of knowing
all the poisonous berries in Pakistan
if I need a new kidney, why does it matter
if I’m black or white or hispanic?
The sleeping man in the entrance of
the elementary school had a giant guess bag.
Another extraordinary harmonica player.
Another extraordinary harmonica player.
and you’d say, everybody has a shark
that they think is a life-jacket
and then I’d say
you’re sunbathing
but there’s no
sun out.
MOUSE WARS
107 Plum Street:
There’s a hole in the wall behind the floor cabinets in my kitchen.
Got the only path coming from it via the corner, shoved with bait
and a sticky trap. It’s amazing how little space they need to get in.
Haven’t found any evidence of them in a year.
What did it take to get here? Renovations.
One day, I’ll retrofit the cabinets and finish
the job — cement board, here I come.
Let it be known I fully support
the cat approach if it works for your living situation,
but not all cats are mousers.
Got to seal up your house or you will keep having the same issue.
I’ve narrowed their entry points into my house down to one.
I do see minor signs of mice, but it is nothing compared
to the last two winters— We were literally overrun
with gaggles of mice.
So yeah, get rid of your mice with rats.
40 W Biddle Street:
I’ve been battling mice for 3 winters! After about a year and 800 bucks
to a pest control “expert” I’m seeing more of the little critters than ever.
All the pest control does is send someone out quarterly, fill the bait traps
and charge me $90.00. The mice have learned to avoid the capture, glue,
and snap
traps that I’ve put out. I feel like I have plugged every hole. They laugh
at my glue traps.
This winter, they’ve almost disappeared, and I’ll tell you why. Rats.
The rats have taken
over in the foundation and all around the house I rent from
(I’m in the attic unit).
The landlord hired an exterminator, but the big holes outside are
multiplying.
I assume the rats.
ANOTHER VIOLENT INFLECTION POINT
Gorbachev dies August 2022
and all the pictures of Robert E.
Lee got taken down upstate
at West Point my cousin Noah
said to my Uncle Rob who told Grandma, who
then called and told me earlier today between
meetings that Steven Biko’s forehead looked
shiny as hell in an old photo on TV.
As everyone’s inflation worries
ebbed I always wondered why hurting
stands so much and how well
I’m metabolizing my antidepressants:
like peace to the mind
health to the body
I hate seeing the dykes
not get what they deserve.
I hang out on a subreddit devoted
to people seeking help.
See how the poem creates
time and distance?
What better boosts
the floating offshore wind energy?
The blue-black box of sitting
down on the couch and whining, or
an unedited brightness across the
room?