by Shelby Pinkham
more machine IStruggleToEmbed {
more machine than [ ]. STRUGGLE = ;
to suggesthuman – that doesn’t sound
quite [ ].
a struggle to suggest time = new STRUGGLE (machine.morehuman(“that.sound));
suggestsuggestions . machinestruggles . more than humansuggestions///
beforework
before before work
which is just afterwork or beforemath
or
a time before working class because you better work
or
TIMEWRKor classTMEor BECAUSEWRKor FORTIMEWORKor WorK
Document suggests TIMEWORKER we hit ignore all work in my house
OR
{insert your capitalism here}. I struggle
to suggest a time post
work, but we must
{here is a pillformachiningmyself}
<hltherapy = medication coffee-aligned:><strengthtraining ></videos<on>YouTube=nature-walks:99-orgasms-left-to-enlightenment-platinum-status <therapy><&medication> </& yes >, <yes&> / I must insist nooncoffee /too>
even the fucking [ ]? \\
// , yes grl. especially the fucking [ ].
damn((not my trauma) \\
gonna((stay outta that war over there) \\
gonna((download “apps” for ignoring decolonized mindsets) \\
gonna((tell your mom to check on you) \\
gonna((thoughts & prayers) \\
gonna((hit release on my dogecoin) \\
gonna((make you something with a lotta mayonnaise in it, hun) \\
gonna((thread my brows so I can tell grls on IG to thread their brows) \\
gonna(( \\
but still, long for a way out to the top
OR
a lucky lottery ticket degree
OR the winning horse
right medication – some combo of bets, bets, bets
Shelby Pinkham (she/they) is a queer, Chicanx poet from the Central Valley. They are currently an editor for Rabid Oak and an MFA student at Fresno State. Their work can be found in PANK, Poetry Online, and Honey Literary.