TOMMY PICO - "from Nature Poem"

from The Real-World Problems We Face by 90s Meg Ryan

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lyrics

– from Nature Poem –

I can't write a nature poem
bc it's redundant for an NDN person
to write
a nature poem

Let's say I'm at a pizza parlor
Let's say I'm having a slice at the bar this man walks in to pick up his to-go order
Let's say his order isn't ready yet and he's chatty
Let's say I'm in Portland bc ppl don't tawlk to me in NYC
Let's say he's like, meatballs are for the baby, pizza's for the little man, Ceaser salad's for the wife and the beer, he points to the beer and then thumbs at himself, the beer's for me.

He has one of those cracked skin summer smiles

He keeps talking like I want to hear him
Like he's so comfortable
Like everybody owes him attention

I'm a weirdo faggot

He puts his hands on the ribs of my chair asks do I want to go into he bathroom with him

Let's say it doesn't turn me on at all

Let's say I literally hate all men bc literally men are animals—

This is a kind of nature I would write a poem about.

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TOMMY “TEEBS" PICO was a Queer/Art/Mentors inaugural fellow, 2013 Lambda Literary poetry fellow, and has poems in BOMB, Guernica, and [PANK]. Originally from the Viejas Indian reservation of the Kumeyaay nation, he lives in Brooklyn and co-curates the reading series POETS WITH ATTITUDE with Morgan Parker.

@heyteebs
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