I LIKED HER ENOUGH

When She Says           “I’M JUST YOUR EXPERIMENTAL PHASE”            or take this as far
away from the body as i can
Take this           Down The Hall           Across The Street           To The Other Side Of Town
Put it in a hole and cover The Hole           Yes           The Experiment
Say yes to The Experiment
I want to tell you what to do and I want you to do it
           My body leaves me and turns
on itself           SIGN OF PANIC: THE FAINT SIGN OF PANIC: ECZEMA       SIGN OF PANIC: ASTHMA
but you shouldn’t feel bad about it
Because the faint was just The Body saying “Leave”       I put the steroid cream on my rash but it
persists I forget you but you persist
Elliot Rodger killed the Blonde Women because they would not date him even though he was
beautiful and It’s about possession You were There then you were Gone and I didn’t hold
anything or I am walking on the sidewalk and I trip on a raised edge but No
You Were a pond and I didn’t fall into you I jumped

                                            Like A                       Like A                       Like A
the boys are waiting
                                                       I Went to the Hospital because My Chest
I Watch the Fraternity kick the ball
I Watch the Brothers catch the ball
I Watch the Brothers inflate balloons
I Watch them sit at the table
I Watch them put up a sign: “Protect Our Breasts”
I Watch the Brothers barbecue

I am aroused at the meeting
because I have a 10 Year Plan
I only write when I’m desperate
There was a mouse in the
shoe but no one believed me
When I think of you I think of a
bucket or dispersion or I Make
You Suffer or            dispersion
is slowing down because I am
wavering between two

SAW HER WALKING WITH HER

                                 i want to fuck both of them but maybe not at the

same time a woman has trouble getting her beautiful dog to move

the beautiful dog has one of those collars that makes the dog

bleed if it won't move the thing that separates me from The

Popular Artist is the thing that separates me from Her is Desire is

my phone was dead even though you rode the bus all the way to

charge yours       you did that for me you did that for i read an article

saying He was the inventor of an adoptable modern poetic device

but who invented the stutter  or       who invented hand sanitizer that

smells like apple what separates us is my privilege i repeat so you

know my privilege so my privilege becomes real the Beautiful

Blonde almost walks in the door i face the door we connect she

turns around the man in the corner stares at me as if I am The

Blonde Woman as if I could be the blonde woman he drags his

feet towards me then exits as if all bodies are drawn to me then

remove themselves as if the gaze is repugnant “Look,” says my

body “I want you to look here but the reality is IM NOT YOU

BECAUSE IF I WAS YOU I WOULD…” the absence of time is also

the absence of money the absence of laws is not lawlessness i

couldn’t move my body till i quit everything           that poet is always

writing about her dog well look i am too

                                 do you remember before we met and we talked on

the phone all the time? do you remember when you used to check

your e-mail all the time? not many people complained until the day

before yesterday they had their own mentality they were discreet

everyone in new york city is so friendly i have been here many

times my labia is sore from my camel toe i plan to go to the

reading but i don’t plan on talking to anyone i plan on being

discreet

                                 i want a porch where i can drink my wine

                                 i want to write an entire book in a day so i can get

                                 on with it already

                                 oh, laura, can you tell me about your friend?

                                 she says “besos” but she doesn’t mean it literally

                                 but you think you’re interested after the first

three hangs but then you leave again because scabies

                                 not because you had them but someone could

always have them if you write for an hour every day maybe

someone will read it and hopefully that someone is not my mother

and hopefully they will give it 5 stars out of 5 stars or even 4 stars

out of 5 stars

                                 my makeup cracks when i smile so i just don’t

                                 but i am going to be a dentist and my whole family

is so proud of me because i am such a good person and the

woman i’m trying to fuck doesn’t know me but every time i see her

she says “have we met somewhere before?” and YES cynthia we

met here last week and in Amherst and in Boston but she doesn’t

remember me until the plaid capri pants but then i’m too cutesy

girl to ever be gay and she just asks me what dick is like actually

what is dick like cynthia it’s like the dildo i’ll put in you tonight but

worse       a lot worse

                                 See, in this poem i have agency and it takes him

only a minute to get his coffee and leave and my labia still hurts

any minute i will leave i swear to god i will leave or ten minutes or

twenty minutes or

                                 you are too pretty to be gay

                                 your bangs are too perfect to be gay

                                 you make use of the same rhetorical strategies in

every poem to be gay there is a restaurant that only sells chicken

and rice so it is my favorite restaurant my mom is my stepmom

and my stepmom is my mom and it’s okay to stand in line at the

bathroom it’s okay to be cold in the restaurant

LAURA A. WARMAN is a performance poet based in Amherst, MA. She is the author of How Much Does It Cost? (Cars Are Real Press), DRONE LOVE (Gauss PDF), and WILL GO FAST (Hysterically Real). She is the founder of GLASS PRESS, a publisher of art and poetry on flash drives. Warman has work in shows at MOCA Cleveland, Flying Object, and Open Engagement.