TWO POEMS by ALEX CARRIGAN
Bass Drop
After Leigh ChadwickBasslines follow me around like ducklings in a row. “London Calling”
plays when I realize that waffles can be savory, but pancakes can only be
savory if they’re crepes or latkes. “Seven Nation Army” plays when I flat
iron my hair after my latest boy/girlfriend breaks up with me over Yahoo
Messenger. “Roundabout” plays when a potential boy/girlfriend says that
they think I would look better if I tattooed a mandarin orange between
my shoulder blades. I still haven’t heard “Under Pressure” despite how
often I ride a Bird scooter along the roof of my apartment building. I
never learned to play the bass because I was committed to abstinence in
high school. I would have ordered one off Alibaba if I hadn’t budgeted so
poorly this month. “Money” plays as I debate how much more blood I
can sell without turning my limbs into raisins. For some reason, “Billie
Jean” played as my friend told me she named her daughter “Evie”
because, like the Pokémon of the same name, she wanted her daughter to
become anyone she wanted to be. I can’t imagine ever making any
possible child of mine that happy, but I can write an egg into this poem
because it will make someone in my writing workshop happy. “The
Chain” starts to play as soon as I type the period at the end of this
sentence.
Your Emergency Contact…
After Chen Chen[an anagram poem using only the letters in the title]You are a matron.
You may renounce Rome, or you may not.
You may enter a great era. or you may not.
You may court a rat, or you may not.
You may eat gammon, or you may not.
You may cage an ant, or you may not.
You may carry a germ, or you may not.
You may rage at your genome, or you may not.
An atom can roam. Can run.
You cannot.
Alex Carrigan (he/him) is a Pushcart-nominated editor, poet, and critic from Alexandria, VA. He is the author of “Now Let’s Get Brunch: A Collection of RuPaul’s Drag Race Twitter Poetry” (Querencia Press, 2023) and “May All Our Pain Be Champagne: A Collection of Real Housewives Twitter Poetry” (Alien Buddha Press, 2022). He has appeared in The Broadkill Review, Sage Cigarettes, Barrelhouse, fifth wheel press, Cutbow Quarterly, and more. Visit carriganak.wordpress.com or follow him on Twitter @carriganak for more info.