Why does the kid find his whole
loving family      blond on the sea side
warm       satiated        parenthesezed
      cozy on the ice of a screen
skating on the ice of our winter breaths
even when it’s summer outside

Who likes sand sticking to open-faced
sandwiches anyway

I hate crying at TV ads
I can’t help but carry my heart
on scales        the Egyptians were right   
I tilt like a moth around a well-made fire   
sliding that beat in the cash register   
My attention span offered
                for that fuzzy capsule
                                leak plugged
                                                needs met
                                                                self tucked

So here I watch again the puppy
or the happy little girl        feeding me
all the love I ever wanted
or a jarful of chocolate spread
Tears milked to drink later
                while I kick to glide
                                on the shopping cart

Marine Cornuet was born in the south of France. She is a poet, a translator, and an arts administrator currently based in Brooklyn. Her work can be found in Dime Show Review, 8-West Press, Handsy Lit, Yellow Chair Review, and other places. She is a proud member of Sweet Action, a women-led poetry collective that supports its members through the organization of workshops, readings, and the publishing of poetry samplers. Her first chapbook, Keeping the Chaff and the Wheat, is forthcoming from Unsolicited Press.