Three Books of Desperation

Desperate for a button I can press

that revokes some people’s ability to

use adverbs they don’t deserve like

peacefully and hopefully

Desperate to be recognized

for multiple talents

and singular mindset

Desperation is false identification

but I lay my head down anyway

every day

in hopes to be inconspicuous

Desperation smells like sour water

off the Gowanus

canal

I’m desperate to feel

like getting rich is something

that matters what exactly

does it mean to send

money back where it came

from

Desperate to find out

if you’d let

me at your neck

I’m not as desperate as you want me to be

but I will wear the

clothes you save

for ceremonial hardship

(and I’ll do it rather

gladly)

Spiraling is one of the least desperate acts

with the caveat

that passing it

off as free-form

theory makes it

acceptable

Desperate? Definitely

Worried? Not today

Darkness? Every night

Desperate to know if

you’d like to get in

some

saber-toothed

trouble with

me

Desperate to know if I should be exfoliating in the morning or the night

if you’re pretty

make me pretty

like you are

I’m desperate for space

so fly me right to the moon

Desperation is a sultry thing

like cats with arched backs/

like Rihanna in real life

Desperation is throwing

a socially distant blowout

banger to celebrate your country’s

population reaching a billion people/

desperation is bouncing your electric guitar

off the wooden stage that shakes you

I’m desperate for these

Black kids to have their

superhero back because

having your dreams come

true and then dashed

in three years

is the Blackest shit ever

Desperate to link

my motivation to being

inside/outside

Desperate to stack talent

on top of my already large

mountain of talent

Add it I’m desperate

and it’s on sale

and it might wear me

and it might fail

and I might fail

and I might