###### The Exhibit

Attempting to maintain a healthy distance between myself and my meaning-
less career—I visited the zoo

I purchased a premium pass—Allowing me access to a temporary exhibit
on view—The ticket agent opened the hole in her glass enclosure

She handed me a pamphlet describing an experiment—At a lab in Nebraska
a group of zoologists genetically modified a fish—The fish travelled the world
showcasing its extraordinary gifts—*This fish has extraordinary gifts?*
I questioned the woman in the booth with disbelief—*The thing lives on land*
*and even prefers land to ocean*—She responded—Barely looking up


*Every day*—She explained—*guests wait in line for hours just to share a conversation*
*with the fish*—So long as you lasted fewer than five minutes you could sit
at this sleek teakwood table talking to the fish—I approached
the queue snaking out from a secluded corner of the zoo

*I am Beth Anne*—The fish proclaimed in a scripted sort of way
before telling me about a premonition predicting my arrival—*I was napping*
*on the lawn of my favorite park in my least favorite city*—She asserted
*when a vibrant yellow leaf came to rest directly upon me*

*This leaf was unusually heavy so its contact startled me awake*

The leaf warned Beth Anne of a threat
I posed to her sanity according to some divine provenance
and instructed her to kill me—This is why I am no longer alive

The Exhibit

###### **Brad**`here they all pretento exist? You're such a bore today. en your third ey`
`e. Maybe`
`you're just too hi. . `Hey Brad
if you chuck me that
lighter I might yum you
yes Brad I ring bells and enjoy
caboose uh huh yup I swarm
macadamia mountain
and knock 'em all down

You are such a fucking ferret
Brad you are a ferret named Ms.
Ferret fuck you Brad I will
order a blue icee at the movies
if I want to I'll buy popcorn too
and I'll share I don't care I didn't
tell the big bang to happen
and my poems don't
exist for you Brad

Oh but your caverns
look so delicious so
divinely black and smoldering
and blue I don't want
you soggy in the sink
I want you all the way
down on me Brad will you
buoy me or at least
generic hug me

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

###### **John**

Tipping then flipping then
smashing into the café window
where the cat on Prozac
lounges in the sun,
the roller-derby size queen—I mean
a dream to work with, to access

the lost pulsing feeling with—
found an antidote
to the healing process:
canned beans and the wet
of the mud’s seeping through
my polyester! I was too

eager, and that’s a peach tea!
Take it slow now,
John. Take a breather.
I don’t care
if I finish
last. I just want to.

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