PEOPLE ON THEIR WAY TO WORK HAVE VERY LITTLE TO DO WITH ME

Stimulated by bad decisions, I am writing 
this at the Providence Place mall. 
I believe in pleasure,
pharmaceuticals but not elections.
Should I live like this? Anyone can 
have a problem. 
A droplet
more alive than any moon. 
In the beginning 
I was perfect,
but you will never know that. 

from THE LAST POEM I WROTE BEFORE I DIED

Hang on,
I want to bring you into this cruel world. 

POEM THAT KILLS YOU WHEN YOU LOOK AT IT

I am waiting for something 
awful to happen. 
The duty is immense. I do not mind. 
I pour water down the drain.
I accrue gold coins. 
A cold sameness,
a long and waiting day.
Is this how it happens?
Weather spits 
into the air. 
This is how it happens. 

Elaine Kahn is the author of Romance or the End (Soft Skull, 2020) and Women in Public (City Lights, 2015), as well as several chapbooks including I Told You I Was Sick: A Romance (After Hours, Ltd., 2017), A Voluptuous Dream During An Eclipse (Poor Claudia, 2012) and Customer (Ecstatic Peace! Library, 2010). Her writing has appeared in Frieze, Brooklyn Rail, Jubilat, Poetry Foundation, Art Papers, and elsewhere. She received an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and teaches at Pomona College and the Poetry Field School. She lives in Los Angeles, CA.