Jodi Bosin

i wanna be the very best

when an egg fries it sounds just like rain

the house is filled with flies i thought that was

a summer plague at least give us something

you know what i’m saying... my recent emojis

include rose, ghost, alien, and cherries

down the block a blow up santa sways, strange

at night they light it up some kind of green

winter is not only cold but super creepy

i hack at ice on my car so it splits into sheets

and push it off with my arms, wet and heavy

instagram says that two years ago today

i shared a drawing of the pokémon mew on my story

i can choose to post this again along with

auto-generated text that says “MEMORIES!”

la cienaga

a man says "bless you" to his dog

a drop of water from an AC unit falls right into my eyeball

inside i feel like a swamp

when things are wet and dirty it is simply unjust

one of them is bad enough

i recently said this at an interview for a job

i remember saying the phrase "wet trash"

yes i actually said that

something about what i can't stand, i don't know

my shelf comes out of the wall

the instant i place the last cookbook on

i make banana bread and realize i forgot the eggs

but only when it's done, all sunken

like the sun today, low and red like a new planet

we only know destruction but will not admit it

i put out a fan for the verizon guy here to set up the internet

"some customers just let you melt," he said

i feel the slow approach of the 6th extinction

and no i did not get that job

i don't think it was because of "wet trash"

but i guess we'll never know

the mandela effect

why does it feel like the cicadas come every year

like they are always here

people in movies are always going into bathrooms

and splashing their faces with water

does that really happen

would i understand if i didn’t have glasses

if i had shorter hair

i have tabs open for faces of death

and the peace of westphalia

people will fight over anything, they always have

i don’t understand things i cannot see

like the cloud or love or the economy

i can’t believe the peanut butter brand

was always jif and never jiffy

we only have time to spend money

when we’re not making it

a world ruled by possession

but our time is not our own

the catch is that nothing ever

made sense or worked well

things have always been so bad

for so many people

our systems have always failed

but those who suffer less

are also blessed with shorter memory

this is by design

the director of happy feet said that

he would rather die than make another one

god probably said the same thing

about us

capitalist realism

those secret motes that float

in the air

when the sun falls i see them all

there are millions of them

contrary to popular belief

corona sales went up in the pandemic

at jonestown you know

they actually drank flavor-aid

it’s more of a soda

but i know that’s not the point

it was mass murder, by the way

not a suicide

every interface is now designed

to assault me with videos

i don’t want to see, so loud

i hate how

everything ends up obscene

farce or tragedy you tell me

we buy gold if you need cash

we trade in little hells for the next

can ghosts get cold can they get wet

top 10 most romantic getaways on planet earth

i had that feeling when you’re falling

asleep and your body jerks awake

but i had it in the middle of the day

i have been to the top of the eiffel tower

and it’s not the most romantic place

it is a cage*

i have looked into the mouth of vesuvius

i walked to the top when i was 18

around in endless giant circles

under blue sky, under steam

the new york times tells me

“there are simple habits backed by

science that can help you flourish”

doing the right thing has been

out of style for centuries now

haven't they noticed

apparently i was supposed to

keep wearing my retainer forever

i don't know i guess i somehow

misunderstood the orthodontist

but i no longer have it

i threw it away like five years ago

i feel my bottom teeth shifting

but know it's probably almost nothing

perceptible only to me

an email from openfit weekly warmup

asks "jodi, are you strong enough for

our new workout program?"

the answer is no, i am not strong enough

the email also has "ten creative

and healthy ways to top a salad"

i reset my apple ID every single time

that i am prompted for it

i have the constant sensation

of floating inside an abyss

if i had to guess i would say that

purgatory probably looks

something like this planet fitness

someone near me on the phone walks

backwards on a treadmill in a kanga hat

i always google "lyrics" by accident

without the name of song

i also google “wikipedia” instead of

the thing i want to search for

i do this pretty often

i forgot to call PECO when i moved in

the electricity turns off all the sudden

i fill the living room with candles

not bad, an ambiance

but how will i top my salad in the dark

*even so, i started clapping when someone near me was proposed to, i knew this would be nice for them, what they wanted, and everyone else applauded too and it was nice and they were smiling huge

Jodi Bosin is a Philadelphia based writer and social worker with poetry online and in self-published zines (jodibosin.com/shop). Find her on the front porch and on Instagram @jodi_bosin.