Koss is a writer and artist with an MFA from SAIC. She has work in or Diode Poetry, Cincinnati Review, Hobart, Spillway, Isacoustic, Spoon River Review (forthcoming), and others. She also has a hybrid book due out in 2020 by Negative Capability Press and work in Best Small Fictions 2020 anthology. Keep up with Koss on Twitter @Koss51209969 and Instagram @koss_singular. Her website is http://koss-works.com.
~~~
Why I Live on the Floor
Some people wonder why I live on the floor. Why I crawl out of my green and red plaid womb each morning and back in at night. Why I crawl on the wooden floor and over two small throw rugs to the refrigerator to get a glass of juice. Why I crawl over to a milk crate, pull out a book, and curl up on the floor to read. Why I write on the floors and sometimes on the walls above the painted baseboards. It is not an eastern thing, living on the floor, it is simply that I cannot live on the ceiling.
first published in Lament
~~~
Chinese Master Number > No Mistakes in Numerology
one
how I arrived
shedding mess of mother
lived often as echo
when Grams left
just me
then
and
now
and when
I leave
again
two
shoes not misplaced
Birkenstocks with peels and scents
all the mistaken duplicate orders
always gave one to Max
each brush
paint tube
gratuitous error
a we way of . . .
sum of us
no longer alone
in numerology, luck
when doubled
on itself
two humps
two bumps
twin flames
girl faggotry
lavender menace
too-too
tou-tou
-you
two
other half of lucky
the aborted twins
the evil ones arriving later
eating mafé with Max
on a small rubber tree table
two children left
two eyes no longer see
unlucky twos
anomalies
separated
too early [22 = master builder > masturbator > dream-heavy-darlings]
no glue for magic
one
off-key a capella
from an androgynous
hazel-eyed boy
echoed in a tiny white
church
chamber
decades ago
the important boy
younger
the gifted one
not me
yet like me
faulty, we
sing
brother
chosen
nine
carried me in anxiety
sack, not quite
what we count on
in utero
arrived early
miraculous escapes
pregnancy is
causal
casual
a casualty
karmic
cats have
nine also
live
not Max
six
divided by three
is how to get lucky
five
kids fathered
father time
had a good time
x 5
also lucky, him
odd
numbers
don’t
make
even
children
~~~
One thought on “Koss, two poems”