Having a PSL with You (Me)

Austin Beaton
Sep 8, 2018 · 2 min read

Austin Beaton is a poet essayist that studied regret in Oregon. His work has appeared in Boston Accent, Porridge Magazine, the Bookends Review and elsewhere. He lives near the ocean in California and bakes figs. Read more here.

PSLs were re-introduced in late August. So I drank one in August and wrote a poem and threw it into an internet canyon. Inspired by Frank O’Hara’s, “Having a Coke with You.” (Artwork by Austin Beaton)

Fourth time by evening I prove
to the computer I’m not also
machine, yet. elon musk says
the difference between us + phone
and a cyborg is just data rate. you’re far
but on my screen later, long distance
a luxury grandpa didn’t get: caffeine he did
like me but not how to write for the
internet, which is a thing people laugh about
al gore inventing and makes our brain loop
shorter, like a sequin. art always asking
what humans look for
is also search engine optimization.
look: marketing with drop
shadow paused my scrolling, undid my bike lock,
rolled with me to a strip mall starbucks,
a diva famous mermaid
we still don’t see. not autumn yet but
this fiscal quarter again turns on
with a drink that tastes like chemicals
and I like it. my little secret like the government
/ their aliens. presence might be accepting
our birth certificate of what we click
so I sit and consume with me
and my extension.

Nobody has ever called Austin Beaton an authority on poetry or anything else. Still reading this? Check out more here.

Poet essayist. Nickname giver. Founder of Dear Person. Editor of Hindsight 20/Something. AustinBeaton.com

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