Adrian Matejka
Want List
Bass lines like fat men squeezing into
3rd grade desks.Coltrane’s squealing right before I was born.
If not,
a pill that makes
the music in my head stop.Immediately, then I won’t know
what I’m missing.I want dissimilar words, hyphenated
by minty fresh breath. What good
are words
if no one will listen?A way-back machine, so I can fix.
William Shatner, circa 1967:
guest host for my 8th birthday party.I’m wishing for mandibles, clipping
the staccato lilt of my phrasing.Mandibles to tailor a new dress.
My woman needs one.Then I want X-ray vision,
so I can ignore
what I wish for.In the semi-embarrassment of silence,
I want to understandwhy Goya used spoons to paint
instead of leaves.If nothing else, I want
a map with the exact locationof the crossroads, so I can believe
what I never should have known.