Regressive Tendencies

By George Nevgodovskyy

Each day I resist
the urge to miss the apple
and slice off a finger

I’m not kidding

the resolve of a draft dodger
speaking only with fridge magnets
hair trigger, shrimp jesus
leaving digital footprints on a digital beach

still,
you’re every single answer
to my password recovery questions

and I keep forgetting (keep remembering)

our love as mass
hallucination
plastic keys beneath my fingers
the faded letters of your name,
initials
in a diseased heart,

the rotten tree stump
that used to dream of
reincarnation
a hotel Bible, pack of A4
nothing fancy –

or maybe it was a memory
this clinging feeling
that life used to be better
but we’re not sure when.

I have this fantasy:
I’m dialing a plastic rotary phone
with my tongue.
It rings and rings.

Nobody answers.

Author Bio: George Nevgodovskyy was born in Kiev, Ukraine, but has lived in Vancouver, Canada for most of his life. He has previously been published in East of the Web, Rejection Letters, Nunum, trampset, and others. He does his best writing after everyone has gone to sleep. Check out more of his work at georgenev.blogspot.com.

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