there is no force
just one long choice
unconsciously made

piecemealed

for comfort

we are what we spend our time doing
being pulled
away
from us
is us
til
death do us

they’ll flip the record
sing hoot and holler
make cool pictures in black and white
smile real wide for them
rub our noses in it

conceived in this lottery of
rivers
floating cargo
we did not create

drawn
to mean something
with blood in the water

named numbered and counted
–by some few–

like cattle
taught to spell and survive

only to be hauled under by a hotel boat
full of zealots and cannibals
raping your attention

please,
“drag me to the hull ! ”
I am already
half eaten

---

Gaetano Barranca is a queer lebanese-italian-american born and raised on the pearl of the Atlantic, more commonly known as Staten Island, NY. He is a public interest lawyer by day and a writer and poet at all other times. His poetry has been published or is forthcoming from The Write Launch, BarBar, and Posture Magazine. In his free time, he thinks about going to the gym.