Johnny Depp owns an island
A-Ha, the band that sang Take on Me collectively
Own an island while The Lonely Island
Do not own one, Marlon Brando,
Who is dead, is on the list of island owners
Leonardo DiCaprio, Ricky Martin,
Robin Williams—also dead
Maybe this list is outdated
It features washed-out google images
Of the celebrities next to aerial views of their islands
Which look like supergreen salads or planets
Or salad-planets or cross sections of
Planet Hollywood billboards
So far away or so close-up
There’s an implied sense we as observers are
Exiled from these 200×200-pixel images
High-contrast oversaturated unattainable
Properties shining like beacons from a
2003 we can never access
In circles where buying an island is an acceptable form of self-care
A lifestyle choice we can rage against but never zoom in on
Maybe I should look at another list maybe I should—Picking your nose really thoroughly as self-care
Watching an entire season of Queer Eye without moving as self-care
Making yourself a really healthy dinner and
Eating it too quickly to get indigestion
As self-care, at what point does your
Self-care grow a thirst that cannot be quenched
By coconut oil or yoga, at what point does a man
Become an island dressed inappropriately in a Hawaiian shirt
Unbuttoned, bare belly viewed from above like Mao
Drifting down the Yangtze to prove it’s not toxic
The Galapagos rising out of the sea like fat
Tortoise asses revealing themselves to Charles Darwin
Revealing himself to Richard Dawkins
Exposing himself to every old white man who
Thought his ideas more important than
Having values, at what point am I just giving in to the
Decadence of my sadness like eating a really
Nice ass-cake sprinkled with islands inhabited by my own
Feelings drowning them in stomach acid torching
The villages burning the villagers
How many times
Will I swallow before I sink
- 115: SPACE
with A Sometimes
114: NO THEME 13
with J Toledo & C Tse
113: INVISIBLE WALLS
with A Walker & D Disney
112: TREAT
with T Dearborn
111: BABY
with S Deo & L Ferney
110: POP!
with Z Frost & B Jessen
109: NO THEME 12
with C Maling & N Rhook
108: DEDICATION
with L Patterson & L Garcia-Dolnik
107: LIMINAL
with B Li
106: OPEN
with C Lowe & J Langdon
105: NO THEME 11
with E Grills & E Stewart
104: KIN
with E Shiosaki
103: AMBLE
with E Gomez and S Gory
102: GAME
with R Green and J Maxwell
101: NO THEME 10
with J Kinsella and J Leanne
100: BROWNFACE
with W S Dunn
99: SINGAPORE
with J Ip and A Pang
97 & 98: PROPAGANDA
with M Breeze and S Groth
96: NO THEME IX
with M Gill and J Thayil
95: EARTH
with M Takolander
94: BAYT
with Z Hashem Beck
93: PEACH
with L Van, G Mouratidis, L Toong
92: NO THEME VIII
with C Gaskin
91: MONSTER
with N Curnow
90: AFRICAN DIASPORA
with S Umar
89: DOMESTIC
with N Harkin
88: TRANSQUEER
with S Barnes and Q Eades
87: DIFFICULT
with O Schwartz & H Isemonger
86: NO THEME VII
with L Gorton
85: PHILIPPINES
with Mookie L and S Lua
84: SUBURBIA
with L Brown and N O'Reilly
83: MATHEMATICS
with F Hile
82: LAND
with J Stuart and J Gibian
81: NEW CARIBBEAN
with V Lucien
80: NO THEME VI
with J Beveridge
57.1: EKPHRASTIC
with C Atherton and P Hetherington
57: CONFESSION
with K Glastonbury
56: EXPLODE
with D Disney
55.1: DALIT / INDIGENOUS
with M Chakraborty and K MacCarter
55: FUTURE MACHINES
with Bella Li
54: NO THEME V
with F Wright and O Sakr
53.0: THE END
with P Brown
52.0: TOIL
with C Jenkins
51.1: UMAMI
with L Davies and Lifted Brow
51.0: TRANSTASMAN
with B Cassidy
50.0: NO THEME IV
with J Tranter
49.1: A BRITISH / IRISH
with M Hall and S Seita
49.0: OBSOLETE
with T Ryan
48.1: CANADA
with K MacCarter and S Rhodes
48.0: CONSTRAINT
with C Wakeling
47.0: COLLABORATION
with L Armand and H Lambert
46.1: MELBOURNE
with M Farrell
46.0: NO THEME III
with F Plunkett
45.0: SILENCE
with J Owen
44.0: GONDWANALAND
with D Motion
43.1: PUMPKIN
with K MacCarter
43.0: MASQUE
with A Vickery
42.0: NO THEME II
with G Ryan
41.1: RATBAGGERY
with D Hose
41.0: TRANSPACIFIC
with J Rowe and M Nardone
40.1: INDONESIA
with K MacCarter
40.0: INTERLOCUTOR
with L Hart
39.1: GIBBERBIRD
with S Gory
39.0: JACKPOT!
with S Wagan Watson
38.0: SYDNEY
with A Lorange
37.1: NEBRASKA
with S Whalen
37.0: NO THEME!
with A Wearne
36.0: ELECTRONICA
with J Jones