pretty positive an agent broke in

found the coffee pot

dumped a whole bottle of Motrin

i’m feeling edited with sped-up motion

i cannot be stopped

checking goals off as i’m floating

it’s dangerous being on medicine

vetted by rodents

i might see them as opponents

but despite all of their negligence

when the brain moles win

hard to not give them a pole spin

---

open to a different kind of pact

not a Hancock

already got a contract

in every app

i believe the mind can attract

what it needs

if its freedom’s intact

can’t swim with an anchor in your pack

any plant’s pot

rots if the roots are chopped back

bound in burlap

we admire shoes on the rack

while our feet

seek glass to be cracked

– D K T

cold case closed

found bloody clothes in the trunk

of an old piece of junk

beat up who i once was

put them in a hospital bunk

i wouldn’t feel sorry for the chump

they wrote fake notes

tried to expose every runt

for the thrill of the hunt

took a threaded lug nut

tightened with a hammer and wondered

why the bolts couldn’t make a test run

---

not fair to be picking on the young

i wouldn’t dare

i was 20 + 1

plenty old enough to hear

all the tall tales sung

to separate real

from gold-plated dung

if my chair had coerced me to budge

stung like a flare

an electrified nudge

then i might’ve gotten steered

to a pain-free grudge

avoided my plea

been clean of the sludge

– D K T

what is even real

sub in impossible

i don’t eat veal

all of our politics wrapped in plastic

metastatic package

microwave meal

it’s a demon’s steal

go to my aisle

look for the deal

cut back emergency rafts

to have a sale and craft

addicts to help turn the wheel

---

get it to repeat

some passengers might drown

at tragedy’s feet

before i reconsider

get an email

see how it increased my reach

PR put me in the lead

this flattery’s so loud

that captivity

feels like a seat front and center

waking dream so sweet

won’t admit i’m naive

– D K T

thinking about moving time zones

but i know if it’s more

than a 30-minute drive home

might choke on a high loan

rack up the credit card debt

for a pine cone

might be prepared for the climb though

i’m alone quite a lot

shut the blinds and i lie low

tight hold on a typo

need to control fate

won’t enter flight mode

---

don’t want to make a mistake

what if they call me fake

should’ve put in more reps

i mean can’t you see what’s at stake

i bet every scrap of my self-worth

on a good take

quit and i’ll lose what i’ve chased

purpose will run away

and without it i’m spent

in a killing spree at the gate

if only i’d internalize grace

i could be saved

– D K T

i’m at the start

lined up a whole new routine

what does that mean

pressure to grow and evolve from a grocery cart

into a sold-out regime

plan out the marks

if i don’t hit them with speed

that’s when i lean

into it harder

i already covered this arc

time to branch off of this feed

---

look at my column

critiquing new fantasies

writing descriptive material vanities

into my future

like i’ll have the sanity

to own a home where the manatees bleed

i can say confidently

if calamity’s part of my story

it’s cause i got Dramamine

sponsoring my shot at glory

if landed clean

they would cover all the planning we need

– D K T

i’m a seedy person and i’m certain

that my history’s been lurking

cause i always catch it swerving

right behind me it’s unnerving

i’m a permanent deterrent

but my paranoia’s fervent

when my ego gets to hurting

i get hired as its servant

---

lesson learned

when i improvise i pedal too fast

hit the curb

i don’t make the turn

so i’m burned

no concern

cause i recognize that death is a term

that we marketed to sell an urn

– D K T