by Travis Shosa
hey little man / lady / creature of unknown origin / thank you for finding me / in the
recesses of / your local secondhand bookstore / please do not turn / to another page
because / this book is not for kids / this poem is for kids / i have cut the poem up / with
so many slashes / into tasty apple slices / if you dip the words in peanut butter / they
might be more savory / please do not raise / your voice / or else father will hear / please
smack your lips quietly / or else he might smack you / please do not fuck / with daddy’s
plants / he needs those to pay rent / please just watch the goonies / on the lcds in your
eyelids / remember when corey feldman / seemed okay? / it was before your time /
little one / when i was little / i loved shel silverstein / where the sidewalk ends / but i do
not love / how this all began / kids deserve poems too / just not the other ones / this
one’s for you, shel / this one’s for the kids
______
Travis Shosa (they/them) is a writer from Spring, TX. Their poetry is featured or forthcoming in Maudlin House, BRUISER, Eulogy Press, The Bloomin' Onion, fifth wheel press, Eunoia Review, Michigan City Review of Books, Some Words and more. They run Dodo Eraser, a lit mag and reading series, and they are a Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee. Their music journalism has been featured in Pitchfork, Bandcamp Daily, The Line of Best Fit, PAPER, and more.
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