Covid Session: A year of poetry read in 10 minutes and a single take while sick with Covid

William calls this prosey
but there are a lot of things
I don’t care about
in the world. You’re not

one of them.

I’ve bled through two pairs of underwear
in the past three days. And

gone to work every one of them
without food. Mostly because I am excitable

and also responsible.

Everything becomes engorged. The phone
battery dies. And my skin
starts to smell like an heirloom.

That grosses me out as much as it probably
grosses you out. But no one’s around

to tell my secrets to. So I tell all of you

instead.

William Calls This Prosey But There Are A Lot Of Things

Covid Session: A year of poetry read in 10 minutes and a single take while sick with Covid

I love to use my black cat as a pillow.

His stomach is adorable
and he keeps his coat so soft. 

After I lift my head, 
he likes to clean himself of my scent

and occasionally scratch or bite me, 
but so does every man

who tires of my mind

and
his armpits don’t stink or anything.

Hank

Covid Session: A year of poetry read in 10 minutes and a single take while sick with Covid

In Tim Hortons’ Drivethru
at 9:22 am. It seems late. 
But all worms get coffee.

In Tim Hortons’ Drivethru

Covid Session: A year of poetry read in 10 minutes and a single take while sick with Covid

Sometimes when you dream that an ex is getting married
it’s hard to get out of bed, 

but bed is also the last place you want to be

out of fear you might fall
back to sleep and continue that nitemare.

So you become invincible.

Sometimes

Covid Session: A year of poetry read in 10 minutes and a single take while sick with Covid

I don’t have trouble sleeping, 
but I just popped a melatonin. 

I’ll probably dream of mudlarking - 
pulling ancient coins from riverbeds

the way I plead for you
to pull me into your possession.

03.08.21

Covid Session: A year of poetry read in 10 minutes and a single take while sick with Covid

For some, I’m too well defined - 
for others, too free
and excessive. 

I told my mother
”I want to buy a truck”.

She let me know what men don’t like - 
women who drive trucks. I felt small

after thirty-three years. 
I should know better

how to hold my desire

close. This was such a small one, 
I let it slip. Doesn’t she know

I’ve gone on zero dates in the past year? 
Doesn’t she know

I have to keep shit moving all the time?

03.06.21

Covid Session: A year of poetry read in 10 minutes and a single take while sick with Covid

My only boundary is a finespun edge
people tell me to materialize,
but they don’t know

what I know. I’m not going to tell 
you. I’m soft and edgy, 

a sharp, delicate thing
with a subtle spin

and rich
gauzy aura.

03.05.21

Covid Session: A year of poetry read in 10 minutes and a single take while sick with Covid

I don’t trust people who are too precious 
about washing their produce.

I think about this as I eat a strawberry

from a plastic carton that says
wash before eating and listen to
workshops with channeled beings.

02.20.21

Covid Session: A year of poetry read in 10 minutes and a single take while sick with Covid

Do you ever find something you love
and while you’re in the first stage of loving it
think shit

now I need to spend $5 on cold brew every
time I go to Kroger

New Love

Covid Session: A year of poetry read in 10 minutes and a single take while sick with Covid

I just YouTubed how to boil an egg for the
dozenth time I can’t think of eggs at this point
in my life without associating them with labs,
tubes, pipettes and conversations with my girlfriends

I’ll put sriracha on them 

Each breakfast
my cats tell me to fuck off

They slowly eat the last few dry kibble bits
stuck in the outer rim of the inner bowl
rather than the expensive grain-free wet food I
serve to them on a white porcelain plate with a
gold reflective rim and tasteful illustrations of
owls in black like they are savoring it

For a while right before and during the first half
of the great panini - otherwise known as the
pandemic to people who aren’t me or Cassie - 
I was washing my clothes in bargain brand
detergent

I won’t ever do that again You smell dirty when
you are clean

2.20.21

Covid Session: A year of poetry read in 10 minutes and a single take while sick with Covid

Lately, I only feel like posting selfies - and looking at lipstick stains on coffee mugs at the diner counter where my type of men sit alone and barely talk to the waitresses in a tone that turns me on. It intimidates me when a man has a confident defensive sensitivity in his speech. What do I mean by this? I mean I wanted him even if his shoes were too clean. His voice was just right. And so was his haircut that framed by fantasy of a perfect mind.

12.22.21

playful sophistication.

poetry and pictures:

Lou Roman

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