FEMALE NEEDED WEEKLY CLEANING JOB EMAIL ME

well on craigslist enquiring nude females only need

apply for this position (dog) styled up as

80s lovers with big hair allover

cleaners hear so much but they can’t say things

no wait more accurately they are assumed to be unable to say things

and I’m assumed to lack a tongue to be all ears

to be all, bending over you on the sofa

to get that spot

joking inside my head i could get choked to death any moment

which wouldn’t be ironic

but it would be really typical

yeah well so is your mum like this right oh yeah

(sorry)

and anyway he says only use green products

so the animals aren’t hurt and the women aren’t animals

and there’s a position for ‘asian cleaners’

which makes me sick ewhen I see it sooooooo….

hey it’s like this right

i’m close to snapping

whatdoyasay right

hey i’m only enquiring asof rightnow i’m not being entirely serious

i’m just interested if you’d like to of course no no i just like to watch

i can provide my own maid’s outfit for you to wear

all cleaning supplies also provided too

all liquids packed into spray bottles

carefully labelled so asnot to cause any confusion

boxes of hundreds of sponges

rags still in their plastic packages

brooms with plastic bristles instead of hair or artificial hair

three different types of vacuum all for different conceptual instances

and only one of them is pure in the sense that

it believes its own argument,

the others are just taking up devil’s advocate roles

libertarian-contrarian-suctionism for the inside of briefcases

he says we might not even be in the same room

i just like to know you’re in there, wiping down the mirrors

wearing that thing,

please i’ll pay you to just have a girl’s night with me can we talk about

boys? i want to talk about boys. let’s talk about boys. boys! boys… okay, boys

boys, boys. i love boys, good for me right, boys! i think. godfucking jesus

boys. no okay let’s talk about riverdale. what do girls talk about

do they talk about riverdale? they don’t talk about riverdale,

they talk about, um,

girls maybe. they talk about cleaning and being nude

and they write in detail nonsexually about their vaginas

I know you don’t have one but right still

you still talk about them all the time right i’m not wrong there

[poet speaking now] i get an email back saying ‘i’ll keep you

in mind’ what the fuck does that mean okay

sorry you were so desperate for a girl to come over

and mop for you but now suddenly the moment i’m trans

it’s ummmm i’m not sure. this is a once in a lifetime opportunity

hun! fuck you! honestly! i’m like,

so hot as well. i don’t want to be wanted. let’s talk about boys.

let’s talk about being wanted.

i want

to be wanted

un-wanted

then wanted again

in the space of a few minutes

every time you look away

un-want me

every time you look back

want me

so on

like that

keep turning away

keep turning back

you could snap my neck

right now if you wanted

maybe he does want to

men often do

girls sometimes too

but not as often

not as intensely

we aren’t talking about girls

right now anyway. we’re talking about men

actually could you move i saw some crumbs right where you sat down

i think. okay yes thank you. they get all in the cracks between the

sofa cushions. you never know what you’ll find down there. haha!

can you, not, i’m busy right now? i’m doing something.

i’m sort of busy hun.

—

Anne Askew

Anne Askew was a protestant martyr, unique in that there exists what claims

to be authentic accounts of her torture written by her.

No longing

the racks of days

days racked up

cylindrical bias

Questions that

cannot conceivably ever be answered

at least not truthfully

The mouse

that nibbles at the raw

flesh that exists

in rings around the wrists

the ankles

the throat

the bread of the living body

is not transformed into

the bread of sacrifice

it is still only the bread

of the living body

which is still sort of holy

in a roundabout sort of way

the truth

the matter

the matter,

hushed and heavy,

bring the bundle out

carried on a chair

for it has lost the use

of her legs like so

martyrological signs

suggesting a significant

violence which makes it

all the more Protestant

a lot of women have died

burning on the steak

do you really think that makes you special?

ALTERNATIVE VOICE: I do.