Endeavors

I get a dreadful worry
about blue lights, money, the mail
and this feeling sits in me a long time
like pear slices in their juice
as my friend tells me a story
of all his recent endeavors
which somehow gets to rumors of the wendigo
but it doesn’t get worse
in fact I get to picturing
time spent with my friend
picturing the time we’re spending now
and I tell him
to start the story over
because I wasn’t really listening
 
 

Raise

I’m worth much
more than this seed bag
torn and spilled onto
K street
sure, an upside
down jungle
in fact
a rumor is going
around that I cannot
grow anything
outside of my hands
the pale pleasant
sky handle
the deep black
that must be in
the center of a seed
I give a box
of utensils
to my brother
because I know
that he can raise a family
 
 

Over the Desk

a comely pile of foam
at the top of my stairs
that has come
to cover me
what can’t it explain
the knot at the base
of my back
no it can explain that
the movie of a
magnolia
the letter about
mudslides
it can only start
to slither down
the kiss
we traded
over the
desk
you said I was
being generous
in kissing you
no it can explain that
 
 

Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué is a gay, Latino Leo living in Chicago. He is the author of Losing Miami (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2019), Jazzercise is a Language (The Operating System, 2018), and Oil and Candle (Timeless, Infinite Light, 2016). He is also the author of chapbooks on gay sex, Cher, the Legend of Zelda, and anxious bilingualism. He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago.