A Drawing of My First Tattoo

 

f i r st we have leaves leaves l e a v e s t he n bird bird bird

l e av es tree tree tree tree

tree tree tree tree

and then the words i suppose it will all make

tree tree tree tree sense when we grow up.

tree tree tree tree hobbes

yes i meant the tiger hobbes

like from calvin and hobbes

tree tree tree tree calvin cal bbes

tree tree tree tree calvin calv hobbes

g r a s s g r a s s grass grass grass calvin calvin hobbes hobbes hobbes hobbes hobbes

g r a s s g r a s s g r a s s calvin hobbes hobbes hobbes hobbes hobbes

Sweet Chamomile

 

sweet chamomile

honey offerings

have dissolved

 

boil leaves

carry this mug with my

aching wrists

 

i drink

not just to sleep

but to find calm

 

in the hands

are pins and needles

 

but not numbing

 

it has been

three (3) entire months

 

of having

wrist synovitis

 

& my fingers tremble

as i take the hot leaf water

to mouth

 

how to sleep

when your wrists

cannot do anything

 

other than ache

 

sweet sweet

it is lined

at the bottom

 

with my daily offering

to the god hermes

 

god of healing

& my frankincense burns

 

& my room

is a lot less

of the prison it was

back when i

couldn’t even lift the mug.

 

to heal

is not linear

& i will zigzag

 

to better nights

 

sweet chamomile

honey offerings

have dissolved

 

boil leaves

carry this mug with my

aching wrists

 

i drink.

Sweet Snack Recipe

 

sweet snack recipe:

 

five (5) sets of pre-packaged peanut butter cheese crackers

one (1) bottle of water

 

unwrap your first set of peanut butter cheese crackers. there should be four (4) in each plastic skin.

 

put your first peanut butter cheese cracker in your mouth. the crackers are cheddar cheese flavored & the filling is peanut butter.

 

the cracker will be salty dry at first so you will take a nice big swig of water from your water bottle. the sweetness of the peanut butter will be highlighted amongst the not-dry taste of the crackers.

 

you will eat these repeatedly every day until you get sick of them. you have never even bought these in real life.

 

you only own these crackers because your college gives them away for free. you have no grocery money this week & it’s finals & you’re a senior trying to graduate.

 

when you are done eating you will throw away all your peanut butter cheese cracker wrappers. you will then put away all the peanut butter cheese crackers that you didn’t eat. just like those granola bars that you hate but you eat them anyway.

 

thirsty.

Fancy Chocolates

 

for my mom’s birthday this year

i bought her

 

four (4) boxes

of dollar store fancy chocolates

 

because that was the best i could do

under my budget

 

& she loves

fancy treats.

 

my mom’s birthday

is two days before christmas

 

& i’m probably going to

be working that day

 

just like

christmas eve

christmas day

new year’s eve

new year’s day

 

so i stow away the stash

of presents

in a shelf in my room

 

ready to be wrapped

later

 

but not quite now

 

& i don my

santa hat

& christmas sweater

 

every day of this

december.

 

my mom grew up poor

in the oregon countryside

 

& she says

when she was a kid

 

christmas & birthdays

really weren’t a big deal

 

but she would still get upset

when people would forget her birthday

& try to pull that

it counts for both nonsense.

 

for my mom’s birthday this year

i bought her

 

four (4) boxes

of dollar store fancy chocolates

 

wrapped in birthday paper

instead of green & red

 

& i don’t know when

i’ll give it to her

 

but delicate delights

set in nice boxes

 

always seem

to bring her joy.

Four (4) Dozens of Eggs

 

my dad said he noticed

that my minifridge had

four (4)

dozens of eggs.

 

& i said

dad i told you not to snoop through my things

he said

it was only your fridge

i’m just proud of you

for eating eggs so much.

 

which i think is funny

because every breakfast he ever served me

was always scrambled eggs

& i hated them so much

that i never touched eggs.

 

so instead i have mastered

soft boiled eggs

upon cheap ramen

 

& sunny side up

inside my own version

of an egg mcmuffin

as inspired by a close friend

who died over (2) years ago.

 

.

 

i only enjoy

scrambled eggs

with sharp cheddar, butter, & pepper

in the way that my best friend

makes them.

 

funny how

so many of my friends

have relation

to simply eating eggs.

 

because yes i hate scrambled

but probably just the way that my dad makes them.

 

i think it’s funny

that when my dad looks in my fridge

the fist thing he notices

 

is eggs.