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"Old 57" by Nick Wort

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I read a story about a women who

thought she had Crohn’s disease but actually

had a ketchup packet stuck in her small intestine

slowly ripping away at the walls of her ass

I shit you not, this is true.

I would like to think of the story as a metaphor

I am the ketchup packet,
you are a poor woman who just wants to feel better

I cause your shits to be painful

No wait, that’s not right

I am the small intestine, you are the woman,

the ketchup packet is our failed relationship

Crohn’s diseases is a reoccurring character.

this is a sitcom

the actor who plays Crohn’s disease gets hit by a bus

(the bus is also a metaphor)

he is no longer in the show by season 2

It’s just us

It still hurts when you shit

you still do not love me

No, that’s not it either.

"Cashland Canto #12" by Nick Wort
 

Sometimes I imagine that we are running through

a forest and you are the forest

and I am running though you

and the forest is you, the you I

am running through

and your hair becomes the trees in the forest

that I am running through that is also you

and we are also together in this forest and walking

I am having a panic attack in a

basement with carpeting. This is

the richest place I have

ever been invited to.

Everything is clean, the soap is in

a ceramic dispenser with detailed flowers etched in the sides, it costs

at least $29.99

I cannot stop imagining what

it would look like if someone

dropped dead and molded into this basement carpet.

I would feel a little better if someone would do that for me.

I drunk drive home

that part’s not important but I want you to judge me

People only like me because I’m hot as fuck

that is a lie

every poem I’ve ever written is about Pearl Harbor

that is also a lie

I have not had enjoyable sex in two years

that is not a lie

I like to imagine what it would feel like

to die while eating at a restaurant

to adjust the napkin in my lap

(who am I kidding, I don’t put the napkin in my lap)

to take a bite and feel the umami

(I don’t even know what umami is)

savor the mingling spices

and then, feel my heart just stop

my muscles stiffen up

and boop, I'm done.