Malin is aware of the concerns.

A poem.




that little bit of marbling showing;

the short denim hem on the
mannequin, barely concealing the

curves, and
craters, and ageless bruising –
says to the weak man,
the spread is open on statutory holidays.


the modern masculine vernacular still contains
the phrase
“she’ll be hotter when she’s older,

you have to look at the
mother”
cautions the Caucasian-loving mixed-race Meat Cutter to the
White apostle, while they

dump the fifty-pound plastic bucket of cleaved cuts
into the

grinder, with their
necks
one thousand degrees to the
cellophane, non-ergonomically
prevailing over this shared domain.


nostalgia’s in atm

ou, une merde chaude par une journée froide

A poem.


her back is to the separating wall,
left thigh over right
under the table at the unhappily married
middle-aged debutante ball,

long faces and all,
and instead of a trombone in her lap it’s her phone
and i’m not leering from around a beam.
this time.


what’s the use of this personification
except to hold on to it for later?
drooling through my pillow case at the open mystery
under those Lululemon Kirkland Signature duperies,
clasping fruitlessly to post-workout legs
like plastic cheese bricks to hot broccoli reeds


that, again, no one’s forcing me to eat

and being fun & flirty and platonic won’t do us good either
because you’re another non-native English speaker,
and i’ve changed little carnally in twenty-five years.
i’d much rather just non-verbally roll around on the floor
but it isn’t my middle-school Québec exchange anymore.
it’s life.



it’s life.
but apparently nostalgia’s all in at the mome.


Featured image “Impression of ‘Lonely woman embracing body in morning’ by Alena Shekhovtcova” illustrated by the author.

wrecked

A poem about a beauty with an ugly heart.


i saw a monster today.

walking among us –
her profile in view,
she confronted me like divinity –

a crack split down the center of her dark-skinned face

and all the blood came rushing back,
scarred by time –
dreamless.
a body to take you there
but eyes that bring you back.

i am urged to ignore her
so i leave her alone,
trying to escape the power she casts
when she stares back at me half-mast.

//jf 6.2.2021


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