"YOUR FRIENDSHIP IS LIKE A KOOL-AID STAIN ON MY FAVORITE KEDS. YOU ARE ALWAYS THERE TO REMIND ME THAT I AM A FUCK-UP"

Ty Ennis, mixed media on paper, 2005 (tyennis.com)

Simulacrum

The space around me
Oozing thick marmalade
A pungent stain you claimed for yourself

Looming white bigger than you then
How did you win?

You overcame it—me
Seeping sharply like always
Just
Sliding
Past.

If you fill me, Why
Am I empty?

Though you mar me
I tell you
I feel nothing.

You said if I tipped it
I would see everything better
But I can’t make anything of



This positive void—



The glass is cloudy,
The liquid tepid.

There are no maps
You left only a blotch and
These arginine vessels
Too hollow for comfort.