Contours of the no

 shoulders hunched

hate rolls in

on a memory of lipstick smeared

trying to still my hand

to feel the contours of the no

that boils up

where’s the refraction 

through a prism and 

where’s the thing itself 

the proof is in the contrast 

but the edges get slippery

when I look too close

IRL

way back in 2015 or was it 2016 

there was a Twitter feud

and it might’ve started with Obama and Trump and a presidential warning not to say his name

and then Avril Lavigne said a thing and along came the babadook 

and Obama got involved with another warning 

so Trump got involved and asked Avril to sing at his inauguration and 

she said dear god no never you big bully and 

he said well, your music sucks anyway and the babadook isn’t scary and I’ll ban all the babadooks

but he should have known you can’t get rid of the babadook 

And this all really happened. 

And now the babadook is gay. 

Rumours 2

 

Information withheld so much 
more than the banality behind it,
a tight ship should be just that,
it glides across the horizon,
over the course of a day,
you don't see the waters
churning beneath,
or feel the salt take years off your life,
or grip the rail as you feel your
way back to your bunk.
Which side will a wave slap next,
and the view from the cafeteria,
moderate or good,
occasionally poor?