Nicolas Lopez Nicolas Lopez

stretch out and let the man do his job

It all begins with an idea.

flecks of red

on lily white labcoat

I’ll give you a ride into town

Unless you’d rather walk six miles

he puts a handkerchief to his mouth and hacks

there’s something about an airplane that reminds you of being at the doctor

the crack of a complimentary ginger ale crinkling in your throat like butcher paper against your back

you stretch out and let the man do his job

she kisses the door when he leaves

It’s lovely here; I’m glad we came

pressure drop in the cabin

you watch the fibers swell wetly

you’ve only ever seen this in movies

We’ll show em once and for all who owns these cow towns

just allergies, he says, throwing two chips on the table, pulling the mask over his face just like it shows on the pamphlet, How about some stud, I’m in a charitable mood tonight

Anybody else wanna try their luck

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Nicolas Lopez Nicolas Lopez

joy

It all begins with an idea.

my father in an old

knitted sweater, holds his profile to the light

turns back and looks at

his cast shadow. says who do I look like

“Do I look. Like Hemingway from here?”

in a dream you saw

joy and it looked like

your mother’s damp cheekbones

curses

spilling onto her eyelids

like particles from a brick

smashed on concrete, settling on clean cotton

clear and loud muffled

by the silence of Sunday morning,

just to feel the joy of something breaking

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