A Settler Pandemic Poem
Cat thinks a lot
walks, each leg a separate stalking
plan
fat lizard-mouthed
sits down
takes in the situation on
allergy-down silk stockings.
So tiny and so huge.
Is he bored because it is all so banal
and he misses the world of the spirits?
What platform does Cat use
to hack my dreams?
Because like Big Brother, he Knows
kneading me last night, middream
erotic and violent
after the Zoom dance party
after the data collection
after the Zoombomb, Malware, years after
WhatsApp used to organize death squads 2.0 in
El Salvador.
Dog patrols the perimeter
pistonlegged, curiousnosed
Motion
is everything to her.
Canter-circling sprangletops
shit to roll in, lizards
to not catch, wheels spinning.
Is she bored when forced
to sit still
comfy and pawheaded in the dirt?
Does Dog imagine the future,
or is it cancelled?
Does she feel claustrophobia, seek
platforms of connection as an antidote to boredom, wash
off existential dread in cowboy pool waterfall, dream
of sandpaper cattongue?
Does she sweat as she fearfully side-eyes
thermal-gliding Hawkrider?
Repent for her settlerhood?
Pray to belong to an uncolonial future?
