Open Throat

by Henry Hoke

I try to understand people but they make it hard

cars are loud metals that carry people to the park and that they leave in lines and clusters near the paths and that they can’t stop talking about needing but not in new york

I want to do the opposite I want to go to a place where I won’t be hated where there are therapists running around everywhere like deer and I can just find one and catch it and pin it down store it somewhere safe and visit it once a week

I traded old fear for new fear

I want to devour their sound I have so much language in my brain and nowhere to put it

fire is the only future

if you feel alone in the world find someone to worship you

I look again at the picture that can’t be me it doesn’t have a smell I don’t trust screens to tell me who I am

we treasure the pauses

this is not about need no this is want it’s a terrible choice but I’m making it just like a person