by Dustin Lowman

I remember seeing Chi Chi on the couch
curled up into a diagonal oval
curled up there all neat and simple
and I remember thinking: ‘well you know
it’s the simple human goal
just to find a space to carve out for yourself
in this world, have the ability to curl up on the sofa
and feel alright about yourself.’
So in one way I’m a great reductionist,
and in another way I’m a great egotist.
I want to conquer the world.
But I have to have Chi Chi by my side.
If I don’t have her there, my elliptical friend,
then I may as well be some campy dictator
firing a thousand dead weapons
polishing a thousand blind windows.
Nothing has inherent structure, and only
the still point extends. But I swear that Chi Chi
could make my heart a golden blossom
by the way she makes it mean something
to lay down sideways.

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I am Dustin Lowman. I live in Nashville, TN, and I write poems and songs. Most of my conception of myself is tied up in what I write in my poems and songs, and I have a lot of fun doing it. I’ve never been published before, but my only real dream beyond having a sustainably happy existence is to make my own language-beauty, which I suppose is intertwined thickly with a sustainably happy existence. I hope you’re treating everyone well, and I hope everything’s good on your end.