Pan and Hiz Worms, 2016

Pan & Hiz Worms

I find myself a most vicious pan

After the god

And because it is

Forced upon me

The pretending of a man

I jauntily accept and even

Cherish the pretending

Because it feels

maybe,

close, slight

To recognition.

But I also

Work it out of my body

Like a worm

Because I know it’s not good for the health:

To be a man.

And yet I keep on pan

Pandering

de-worming

Pretending

Right on cue

Clockwork pomme

The finest refined actor,

Like many of us:

For all our lives.

But!

the deworming

Leaves a residue

A scent

My history is stained

With olfactory factories

Chugging out the truth

While the birds die.

And the gods to which i

Pander to

Know

That I ruse

I pretend

I hide some details

Here and there

And they peek out

Of my work pants

And plaid red shirt.

While I lay

very flat

Against the crotch of

my stiff cotton trousers.

I

Pan

Pandering

Pretending to be a man.

A Man.