Despite Reports Curious George Not A Monkey, Has No Tail

"What things know no one knows"
—Lyn Hejinian

how the s changes passersby
inside like a fetus makes mother what was
woman
on the local you pass with your express
                               a human in neon biosuit
that corner of your eye reserved for
tailed afflictions, pale-skinned angels—shudders, flinches

"fever 102° no daycare"
"vomit, day three, no daycare"

meanwhile our thick-waisted planet like a roast-pig basking

puffins and penguins are birds that swim
the seal a torpedo upside down

husband, various complaints, wants sex also

and they are scanning my motherhood

I want to say wait on the front steps but haven't any
want to say get out so I can stare at this wall as I was born to do

but when I say so the machine colors the image a solid boysenberry
and an ovoid region above my pelvis blinks beige...black...beige...

the technician's completed level of education
makes his diagnosis no more true than the shapes in a balloon are?

lake above canal
grape on a skirtless broom
a letter we'll call "o-on-i"
penelope over odysseus
cloud and spear



"Despite Reports Curious George Not A Monkey, Has No Tail" by Rachel Zucker. All rights reserved. Reprinted with the permission of the author.