begins “before you ask, I am certain
I am Buster Keaton, one foot each
on two carts headed towards
a fork, dunking towards panic
crotch-first, mouth full
of my own buzzed hair, and yes
some days I am scared of becoming
someone my mother admires
but doesn’t recognize and yes
some days I’d rather be held
at anything but a remove,

but bless me for at my best I am
a little teapot whistling at my own walk,
the rollercoaster fucking tycoon reserving
this track every right to double- : -back, -down, I am
two-faced turning another cheek then
another then another queer as
a kaleidoscope at each tilt I am pulling
myself out of my own ass getting off my high horse
like this with you because I know
how to stick the dismount

I am naked in the kitchen with all the shades
raised and all the lights on and I am looking
right at you through the window and I am
dancing. — relax.”

Published September 19th, 2021

Perry Levitch is from Washington, D.C. and lives in New York. Their poetry has appeared in The Columbia Review, 4x4, and The Rappahannock Review, among others. They are a Pushcart Prize nominee and were selected to receive Quarto's Poetry Prize by Jericho Brown. Currently, they are an MFA student and undergraduate instructor at New York University.

Born in Santa Maria, California, Shannon Bodrogi is a musician, artist, and arts educator now based in Seattle, Washington. Bodrogi earned a BA in Printmaking from San Francisco State University and has since exhibited extensively in San Francisco. In 2020, Bodrogi received the Muni Art Award, a collaboration between SF Beautiful, SFMTA, and The Poetry Society of America. Bodrogi is the founder of Psiclops Press, a small press and design studio, and they also teach virtual workshops at The Vera Project and The Center School. More of Bodrogi’s work can be viewed on their website.