Poems by People I Saw While I Was Away

Everyone I Knew in High School Is Dead


I put a down payment on the jungle
Disfigured liquid milking out what was
left of the vine.
Can you say it? Say I'm here because
innocent people are dying
To have extra saliva to spare
A hardhat for a castle
of canned peas
Pinch to make
sure you're not the ghost or
a book. As we speak someone else
rewrites language, as in papery stomach, as in
lift off. It's cramped inside the magnet
but it's a good day for fox hunting
A volunteer, a willing blonde

-Julia Cohen
from 1 + Scattered = 0 (ypolita press, 2011)