12 Questions
after Bhanu Kapil
Who are you and whom do you
wish would text you back already?
What do you remember
about the umbrellas you’ve lost?
How will you begin
to forget the sound of your father’s sneeze,
once he is gone?
Can you describe a morning you woke
with utmost oomph?
What do you know
about disregarding all the decorum
of badminton?
Where will you one day go/In what forms
will you return?
Who was responsible for the suffering
of your mother’s mother?
What is the shape of your booty?
How would you live, if you had to live forever,
as a melodramatic vampire?
What are the consequences of reading
the world’s saddest poems?
How will you/have you prepared
for your friends’ deaths?
What would you keep secret if you could?
Formula for a Day
1 sleepless night + 1 pretty melon
x 3 tender envelopes + 0 buddha
sightings despite the bestest
efforts - 2 large eggs - 1 little
jade plant + 1 medium to
large ego ÷ 4 windowsills in need
of dusting + 14 winds in need
of watering x 40 windows of need x
the plane of the real + the flame of non
- remembering to reply to that email
- a memory of an afternoon in childhood
- a memory of an evening in adolescence
- 1/7 of a memory of the other day
- .09 of a memory of one’s mother
÷ the two bestest faggots
who ever fagged x the tasty
homecooked dinner they share x the fact
that they’ve long lost count of how many
dinners they’ve shared +
the tenderest part of them that wishes they knew
exactly which number
this dinner is