“Seventeen Senryū” by Tom Snarsky

 

I’m the pinball, falling absurdly back down when you miss the skill shot

The party ended four hours ago and you are just now arriving

Picking over the trash heap of your heart, you find nothing worth saving

The thing about beautiful sculptures made of shit is they’re made of shit

You try to have sex but your legs feel like they’ve already given up

I reach out across the space of the dream and try in vain to touch you

Love’s like horseradish: you have some & then fail to taste anything else

Remember that you are a molehill that can step on other molehills

Dermatologist recommended for when you’ve cried so hard you glow

When I waste water I think about the future, how dry it will be

Why get worked up about something when our collective end is so near

You climax and are immediately filled with a vast emptiness

True & brutal fact: yesterday’s future is none other than today

I’ve started to think in these now, which at least means I’ve started to think

Unicorns are in. Lisa Frank unicorns, by contrast, are way in

Please don’t look at me like I’m your father texting you with emojis

Mind like a diaper: changed frequently in light of new information

 

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Tom Snarsky is getting married soon.