Michael Chang
ON BIRTHDAYS
First, understand this
The real thing is never as good as the fantasy
The real thing is never as big as the fantasy
The real thing is never as live as the fantasy
The real thing is never as painful as the fantasy
• • •
• • •
• • •
屌你老母
DELAY NO MORE
屌你老母
DELAY NO MORE
屌你老母
DELAY NO MORE
屌你老母
DELAY NO MORE
屌你老母
DELAY NO MORE
屌你老母
DELAY NO MORE
INCENDIARY CHXNXMXN
XN
XNGLXSH-CHXNXSX
PHRXSXBXXK (1875)
&
X CXMPLXTX LXST XF WXLLS, FXRGX & CX’S
CXLXFXRNXX, NXVXDX, XTC.
CXMPXLXD BY WXNG SXM XND XSSXSTXNTS
SXN FRXNCXSCX
414 MXRKXT STRXXT (BXLXW SXNSXMX)
* * *
WHXT GXXDS HXVX YXX FXR SXLX?
I HXVX XLL KXNDS
I WXNT TX GXT X PXXR XF YXXR BXST PXNTS
WHXT DX YXX XSK FXR THXM?
& CXN YXX TXKX LXSS FXR THXM?
X CXNNXT, SXR
WXLL YXX SXLL XN CRXDXT?
XNLY CXSH, SXR
WX PXY VXRY HXXVY DXTY XN XXR BXST GXXDS
SXMX MXN LXSX CXPXTXL
& SXMX MXN GXT PRXFXTS
BXY XS MXNY XS YXX LXKX
CXN YXX LXT MX SXX XT?
YXXR CXCK, X MXXN
Sweet Torture
I order my life around the red-crowned crane,
yes, that dignified bird of sweet immortality,
lacquered votive offering to myself.
The way you take in my Mutual of Omaha,
sex with you is like laying with a dragon.
I know you can kill me with your bare hands,
filthy & fearsome.
Tame your savage breath,
draw from me, these Lazarus Pits
an erotic terror.
Yeah, well,
you can’t keep or hold a man’s attention.
Let me introduce you to New York’s true finest,
you should know that I can slay you in a second.
All is for naught the second you open your mouth,
your lumbering burden rendered nothing,
goat sacrifice in a seersucker suit.
Like Zhang Ziyi in Rush Hour 2,
I’ll bleed you out Santería style,
yes, that rug really tied the room together.
You’re normal like a Macy’s polo shirt,
scratchy cotton hugging your nipples the wrong way,
you know, that’s your opinion,
man.
POEM ENDING WITH LINES FROM FRANK O’HARA
“I have seen boys, also, walk in the street with their arms twined around each other’s necks, and always in each other’s society. They say they love each other very much.”—Jena Osman
“As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly”—Proverbs 26:11
—
I hate ppl axing who I write for
I don’t write for myself
I do other things for myself
I do this for you
—
You get off on his hiking pics,
rub your bean to him, rhythmically
Tell him you want to see his mountaintop
His cock bends towards white supremacy
He returns to the Appalachian trail
He will get his comeuppance
—
In 1467, Alfonso de Spina asserted that the number of demons was 133,316,666
Living in Brooklyn is Napoleonic exile
I’m the Pope of desire
like fucking with, well, the weather
Like a storm
taking a bath in seltzer
With dry eyes
watch my heart harden
Evan & his practice tests
—
You the whiteboy whisperer
Pied Piper of questioning boys
I want to be the type of bitch who sips tea & sits on chintz
I think it’s bad there are giraffes in New Jersey—
giraffes shouldn’t have to deal with that
—
Sextina sestina cat’s
in the cradle
Hanoi Jane
Comedy is tragedy
plus time
LANA TURNER
HAS
COLLAPSED!
oh Lana Turner we
love you get up
A Lambda Literary fellow, Michael Chang (they/them) was awarded the Kundiman Scholarship at the Miami Writers Institute. A finalist in contests at the Iowa Review, BOMB, NightBlock, & many others, their poems have been nominated for Best of the Net & the Pushcart Prize. They are the author of two chapbooks (one of which won the Bateau Press BOOM Chapbook Contest) & their full-length collection is forthcoming from Really Serious Literature. Other projects will soon be announced.