taking resin hits off curb dust
startling at cars

jobless again
i dust a fan with pipe cleaners

i stroke the underside of my teeth
with a finger knife

the bar lord yells
what weather is good
for his business

the basement of the apartments floods
the landlord texts mop it up

escaping getting trashed

if i were a good lover
i would do the dishes

dream of you sucking me off

the pleasant hum of body
standing in space
the state would rather be empty

a skeleton still producing fruit
houses sit empty

they closed the waiting list
for getting by

TAKE IT by baby

stripping the landing
of soft parts

in august the weeds announcing
everything could be cushion

and lushness isn’t only
for the obedient

who fuck their qualms
collecting packages weekly

i was like a lawn
chemically forcing the soil to take me

stepping barefoot
on warm concrete

ash holding a novelty mug
not stopping asking when

it’s not enough to be born
you have to scream

at night the cats in vacant lots

Ebs is a poet living in Philadelphia. They co-edit the tiny with Gina Myers and are the author of A Fallow Channel (Gauss PDF, 2020). Their work has appeared in Asterion Projects, bedfellows, Bone Bouquet, boneless skinless, Full Stop, Fungiculture, Prolit, The Rumpus and Tripwire, among others. IG @ebs______