1 poem
by Alyssa Moore
Alyssa Moore is a visual poet and writer who holds degrees from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and Harvard University. Her work has appeared in POETRY, Bennington Review, Boston Review, Hyperallergic, Tagvverk, and elsewhere.
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Fuck the Effacement
I’m like a bird
on a tarot card
everyone
has got something to say
about what
I might mean. Tricks
on them. Even on a good day
I can only be read
two ways. On a good day
I’m two geese
on a cardboard quadrilateral
flying
no where. Read: suspended
over an earth that
you
will
never
illustrate
I’m like a 2D bird
rainbows
laced through
all my wings for décor-
um. Pay attention
Was squeamish now
getting stronger
I hate birds I’m
branta canadensis
I’m dentist to
ur dumb cavities
I.e. Not. Yours.
I’m like I just mated for life and I’d
rather not I’m like
stop looking at me
to tell you what you are
I’m like two birds
w 18 square
inches
room
of wiggle
I only fly one way
that you can tell
Had a designer & then
deigned to live
on my own. Today I ate
a tarot card it satisfied
a hunger I didn’t
have yet. Even on a bad day
could generate a meaning
that’ll be accepted into
the canon. I fire away
Fly right through
your faux flo splendor
rainbow road
I’m like
t
w
e
l
v e
birds
in a corrugated enclosure
of course you want me
of course you want me
of course you want me
of course you want
to pick me up I’m slick w sun
shine & I know it
My plumage is
pluripotent
My existence is the rarest
strain of meaning I know
exactly who you are
& I DON’T CARE
I’m like 50 birds
on a tarot card
I lied about my limited
meanings I’m
a complex goose
& a complex goose
has a right to keep some things
to herself