The American Poetry Review

SADNESS IN THE SHAPE OF A PHONE

You are sagging in my pocket. I cannot let you go.*Look, a beautiful person is dancing.*Wasn’t my face meant*Think boots. Buy boots from a pop-up ad.*Webcam penguins waddle through a museum!*Alexa. What is this I’m feeling?*The government tracks my sadness.*I hold the Grecian shore in my palm.*I watch a Master Class on hostage negotiation.*If you put buds in your ears, sadness will listen.*My fingers shrink and enlarge other people’s successes.*Sadness once hung on a wall. Had a mouthpiece. A receiver.*hey period do you want me to pick up anything question mark*Planes leave white trails across the sky. Sadness fades an outline on my ass.*Suggested for you: the world’s oldest story and global myths.*The more you scroll, the more you scroll.*What can you do with my thumbprint? I don’t want to find out.*Tracing my steps makes them add up.*I know by heart many numbers that reach no one.*The glowing thing I hold is neither an orange nor fire.

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