Apathy

by Jenny M. Liu

Do the macarena, the cupid shuffle, the hoedown throwdown,
for this bitch is about to dive head first into the toilet, porcelain throne,
Target magnolia candle in the cabinet below, a small honorarium
for this former party animal, this baby born in the 1900s, she has had enough
and no amount of bloody mary consumed in front of the mirror can

make her appear again

                       Not even the promise of frosted birthday cake, delicate rosettes
           meeting white lace seafoam in marriage, consumption illness
                      extraordinaire on the damn beach can tempt her tired bones
           There is simply not enough cartilage left in these joints

           & light
           one of those
           up too because
           what’s 360 minus 1

                                            when she’s sitting in a recliner
                                            with a laptop tray full of high speed
                                            internet after work sipping fruit loop
                                            infused milk from a plastic cereal bowl
                                            bopping to a fantasy pov 8D audio fake partytime
                                            w/ half-assed body rolls, shoulder shimmies, hip sways…
                                            she slips past time

and slips past

Jenny M. Liu resides in the burning desert of Southern Nevada. Her work appears in The Aurora Journal and the anthology, 99 Tiny Terrors. She can sometimes be found on Twitter and Instagram, both @jennymliu.