MIDLVLMAG

REVERSE EVALUATION > POETRY

RESIST!; sure, but it’s ONLY TUESDAY?

By Ash Hooke

my phone’s Daybreak alarm cascading/lying 
charging next to a real alarm-clock           only used for time/
Alexa–
            what’s the weather like outside– 
            any UAV’s to be seen? 
thank god this isn’t Venenzula– 
            Alexa, pon el álbum Document de R.E.M–
            cualquier VANT asesino en el cielo?
and i’m sipping my extra boosted shot of Brilliance Energy tea to combat happy 
hanukkah heavy metals/merry 
xmas microplastics/so my organs       can be harvested–driving
on Grant’s apocalyptic construction                  stretch–
                                         someone’s laundry is strewn across the road
–just keep going/accept that you’re trapped 
              on this torn-up road                  for at least another                   twentyfive miles/Sirius 
radio saying                                              war
finds no shame in oil                 now/crude collateral damage at acceptable
                                                                                                                                       levels;
stopping                        at Starbucks for double-fisted protein enhanced coffee to
pump-up my Ozempic starved muscles/feed my caffeine addiction/encourage my morning
productivity; reminding
me to                pick-up my admissible drugs–the ones prescribed by doctors            whose
degrees still matter–
             how am i still a teacher–
             why don’t we have surveillance drones on campus yet?
the semi-acceptable Turnitin AI telling me                 when these kids are using AI/what 
AI is invading/where                 AI is fucking with my life/who
AI tells me i am;           big brother help me know 
how to get my estrogen back/what to get my mom for christmas/who my therapist
was talking about the other day–
             iPhone are you even listening to me–
             shouldn’t I just call and ask?
my mom desires to FaceTime, I don’t want                  to look at your face 
looking at my face,
mom–
              have you found enough insulin–
              did dad finally ride that LifeFlight?
these cyberpunk insurance dealers/these pharmaceutical corps/these somehow zillionaries 
              remember when millionaires were the thing–
              have you made your first million yet?
i need my drugs too mom, to get through today/to get through next week/to get     to utopia–
thank god pot is legal; giving us comfortable haze; rage                     culture blazing
from underpass barrels–                      The Purge is happening south of 22nd street–hey 
Gemini–
              can you write me a poem about resilience–
              do you dream/have nightmares, too?
just write a poem                      ash,                    just write 
me a poem, make me              poetry for just 2.7 minutes every day so 
i don’t fade away.

Ash Hooke (she/her) is a queer poet, artist, teacher, and former Mormon. She is equal parts confessional and political poet, commenting on issues that touch her often framed in religious and psychological trauma. 

Ash is a featured poet in SAACA’s Uncommon Knowledge Exhibition traveling through the USA and parts of Europe. Sandscript, The Sabino Poets Group,  AlienBuddha Press, Call Me [Brackets], and The Deadbeat Poets Zine have published her work. Her recent chapbook Surviving the Post-Mormon Apocalypse was published by Sonorous Anchorite Press (2023). 

Ash is also a member of the poetry collective A Movable Beast in Tucson, AZ providing public reading opportunities for new and established poets and creatives. 

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