For M by Mikko Harvey
For M
Mikko HarveyI don’t
want you
to be
nervous. Maybe
thinking of
a walrus
would help.
Have you
seen the
video of
the penguin
accidentally stepping
on a
sleeping walrus?
It thought
it was
a rock.
The walrus
wakes up
like what
the fuck
and the
penguin scurries
off like
oh shit.
Sometimes it’s
funny watching
a surprise
happen, and
not just
funny but
kind of
amazing — like,
you never
really know
what’s what
when it
comes to
this planet.
Then again,
when it’s
you getting
surprised, that’s
different. Especially
for tender
ones like
us. What
are we
supposed to
do? It’s
bad for
our hearts,
you know.
I hope
you won’t
need pills
like I
do. I
think I
get so
scared because
I’m greedy —
I want
to hold
onto everything,
the world
wants to
take it
away. What
the fuck.
The number
of hours
we have
together is
actually not
so large.
Please linger
near the
door uncomfortably
instead of
just leaving.
Please forget
your scarf
in my
life and
come back
later for
it.
KEEP READING
SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in Let the World Have You by Mikko Harvey, published by House of Anansi Press, 2022. (Available direct from House of Anansi Press • Also on: Amazon • Bookshop)
DESCRIPTION
“Mikko Harvey’s new collection invites readers into a world that is and is not the world we know. In poems at once surreal, satiric, and tender, we encounter a cast of surprising non-human characters—the bear who sells herbal remedies, the politically influential lizard, the mean butterfly, and many more—yet at the core of this book is Harvey’s impulse to confront the complications of human intimacy. Let the World Have You is a vibrant report on the ways in which we are delightfully, awkwardly, heartbreakingly entangled: with each other, with the environment we inhabit, and with the psychological environments that inhabit us.” (Source)
ABOUT MIKKO HARVEY
Mikko Harvey is the author of Unstable Neighbourhood Rabbit (House of Anansi, 2018). He currently lives in Saugerties, New York. (Source)
Read more poems by Mikko Harvey • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Follow on Instagram • Website • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
- Explore other works in pursuit of: vulnerability • attachment • fear • Or browse the index
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