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