wish i were rich
they say money can’t buy you happiness
rubbish!
poppycock!
what a load of shit!
do you know all i could do, if i were rich?
i’d travel
see the world
run my fingers along its edges
run along its plateaus
run through its great fields
along the sand in the cold
oh yes
buy me the moonlight in the night sky, that makes the ocean glow
buy me that time i played in the snow, and nearly froze
buy me the leaves that fell on the floor of the woods last autumn
buy me the first audiobook i heard while in the car with my father
buy me the scent of the museum i went to when i was five
buy me the first stuffed toy i lost, and cried
oh yes
i’d get to buy everything
i’d get to do everything
see all there is to see
do all there is to do
draw all i could draw
until my hands were dry and raw
oh yes
buy me the hand lotion left for me in my stocking on christmas
buy me the first song i ever heard, and listen
listen
buy me lots of clocks
i like to hear them tick
their hands running along their faces, while their laughter sounds
tick tick tick
laugh all you want
i wouldn’t worry then
because then
i’d be rich
oh yes
call me a selfish bitch
but god
if time is money, i wish i were rich
-
(2021)
If you Ate a Proper German Crumb Cake
“And, I think-- to be honest, I think most of the cake is crumbs, because that’s what tastes good [laughter]. And there’s also a reference (in the recipe) to ‘double the crumbs’, ’cause it’s better that way! Very little cake… lots of crumbs… delicious.”
- Mum (on the family’s recipe for Streuselkuchen)
If you Ate a Proper German Crumb Cake
you would drown in crumbs:
you would breathe in dry, sweet cinnamon,
asphyxiate in sugary dust.
taste one hundred years of family
of fondness
of love
the rest of the cake forgotten
buried deep underneath the fragments of
glittering, silver bronze
another memory gone to bed
another word yet gone unsaid
stuck in the back of the throat
since swallowed
and washed down with cold ice water
then,
finally break for air, again
-
(2022)