today

the silence is

   unprecedented

  all language is

 cancelled

  each screen a

    perversion of light

now & more than ever

  we are doing it tough

choking on

Black Summers

past, matcha

sediment, our

pulped tongues

in these uncertain times

have you tried

  shitting in

   your hands

     & clapping?

normalise the

new normal

teethmark

  palimpsest

   across our

   cheeks, children

  horsemanning

 in the rubble, Albo

jumpscare! April Fools’

    address to

    the nation

managerial syntax

    of puke, bureacrats

grammaring in

  bile, bloodstains

visible from

      space, our blind

boxed tomorrows

it is in our

national interest to

     take it easy

     take the bus

     take a nap

sleepwalk

 into the future†

 all of its expiring

   shades of light

  we must all

 come to the table

  where every

  mouth is

  a designated area

    & everybody’s tongues

  are prime cuts

  arranged on beds

made by others

      say

       s*cial

      c*hesion

  until it

 fastens

  around

   our necks

 show-ponying from

the prize circuit

to the glue factory

   they wanted

   the streets

     scraped clean

    of banners

   chants & song

our hands

  bound

  together

   in resin like

  redundant

insects

 eye is

    one of our

   oldest written words

  I see us trapped

 in we, a word

 weapon, mochi

 soft, drivel

      sweet,

       one more

            thing to

                  choke on.