03-01-2021

 

Jesse Tsinajinnie Maloney

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Superman Versus the Polar Bears

 

He cannot fly.

He cannot wear a cape.

No laser blasts

from his eyes.

 

In a reality

where Superman fights giant

spiders and

polar bears

outside of his fortress of

solitude nullifying the

name

the bureaucratic win is

celebrated as quickly as

it is condemned as

tsunamis of

blame and shame crash

cracking

clavicles, scapulas and humeruses

but no spines because

there are no

spines to break.

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White Clay

 

Twelve thousand cans

a day.  Twelve thousand

hisses and snaps,

a chorus of vacuum

packed gas escaping

singing into the night

and through the South

Dakota morning wobbling

legs, slurring voices,

belching noises, devolving

speech to grunts and

mutters, swerving wheels,

lightening wallets with chains

attached to jean belt loops so

they’re not lost in

the transaction with every

hiss followed by the familiar

metal snap.

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Prince Albert

 

I pee sitting down sometimes

when my Prince Albert

goes missing

a penis without a Prince

Albert is just a penis

with two pee holes.

Normally I can twist

my dick clockwise and

seal the opening at the base of

the foreskin using gravity

and the ring as enough obstruction

to allow urine to flow through its

natural course and to its

destination;

toilet.

Without it, no matter

which way I twist it

I get

leakage

and splash on

my jeans and sleeves

from the first

hole.

In my late teens the

piercing allowed me to

46 Health Carefully

expose myself without

fear of reprisals.

I wasn’t flashing the young

ladies.

I was showing them a shiny

thing attached to

the end of my cock

as an icebreaker

not an assault

not a direct assault

but periphery degradation

an ancillary attack

to be forgotten until

a generation later

my name gains

recognition and my

philanthropy gains

traction

my face next to a

headline

cheeks plumper, hair

grayer, eyes softer but

they won’t be mistaken

they’ll remember

they’ll all remember

and demand justice with

hashtags and an effective

 cyber campaign calling for

my end

fitting revenge for perverts

who didn’t anticipate

the advent

of social media.

I’ll respond to them:

I was young

I was dumb, I’m sorry

my father wasn’t

around

but now I’ve a wife

three cats and when

I pee,

I pee

sitting

down.

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-from Health Carefully (Cyberwit.net, 2019), selected by Spring 2022 Guest Editor, CMarie Fuhrman 

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Jesse Tsinajinnie Maloney is originally from the Leeward side of O'ahu. He went to the same High School as Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. His work has appeared in Turtle Island Quarterly, Peach Velvet Lit Mag, About Place and other places. He currently teaches at Dine' College and lives with his wife and cats on the Navajo Nation.