Morgan Parker

Pandemic of lilies                          dreaming majesty hovers like sweat & unwraps you & you are in love it makes you bad,    bad is your name is the desert is movement                                      long kiss heavy gut            slow slow hands                 in your seeds

Took me awhile to learn the good words make the rain on my window grown and sexy now I’m in the tub holding down that on-sale Bordeaux pretending to be well adjusted I am on that real jazz shit sometimes I run the streets sometimes they run me I’m the body of the queen of my hood filled up with bad wine bad drugs mu shu pork sick beats what more can I say to you I open my stylish legs I get my swagger back let men with gold teeth bow to my tits and the blisters on my feet I become electric I’m a patch of grass the stringy roots you call home or sister if you want I could scratch your eyes make hip-hop die again I’m on that grown woman shit before I break the bottle’s neck I pour a little out: I am fallen

Water the plants. Drink plenty of water. Don’t hear the news. Get bored. Complain about the weather. Keep a corkscrew in your purse. Swipe right sometimes. Don’t smile unless you want to. Sleep in. Don’t see the news. Remember what the world is like for white people. Listen to cricket songs. Floss. Take pills. Keep an empty mind. When you are hungover do not say I’m never drinking again. Be honest when you’re up to it. Otherwise drink water lie to yourself turn off the news burn the papers skip the funerals take pills laugh at dumb shit fuck people you don’t care about use the crockpot use the juicer use the smoothie maker drink water from the sky don’t think too much about the sky don’t think about water skip the funerals close your eyes whenever possible When you toast look everyone in the eyes Never punctuate the President Write the news Turn into water Water the fire escape Burn the paper Crumble the letters Instead of hyacinths pick hydrangeas Water the hydrangeas Wilt the news White the hydrangeas Drink the white Waterfall the cricket songs Keep a song mind Don’t smile Don’t wilt funeral funeral