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bree jo’ann

 
 
 
 

Audio: Bree Jo’ann reads.

 
 

I want to be an angel in front of the television
with no higher priority than anime and my bae.
I want to play deck builders in bed without
the cards burrowing into folds of fabric.
I want to gaze at unadorned peaks and valleys,
explore a forgotten cemetery and find something familiar.
I want my Snoopy pants to came in the mail
And my Megan Thee Stallion cassette tape
And the comic that I Kickstarted three years ago
And the Latvian anthology
And the Marc Jacobs top
And the APC top...
I want to go to my uncle’s restaurant in Chicago
Then take an Uber to Quimby’s Books.
I want to go to Japan with everyone I’m related to.
I want to know the kind of peace that runs deeper
than memory, like old money.
I want my love to feel like a gift,
not emergency back up.
I want to buy all the abandoned malls in the country
for black teenagers to cover in murals and play laser tag.
I want a portal to Narnia to appear in a closed school.
I want it to be discovered by locals smoking a blunt
right before urban explorers call the cops.
I want to go for a fearless 3 am stroll when insomnia strikes
and catch my reflection in every darkened window.
I want to gently divest myself from my body
just so I can offer the admiration that it’s always deserved.

 
 

BREE JO’ANN is okay, but just barely. She is an MFA candidate at Butler University and community advocate for youth in Indianapolis, IN.

Originally published August 2020 in poiesis 1.2: syzygy by w the trees.