SHIN WATANABE

DEAR BROTHER, WHEN YOU GROW OLD, YOU BECOME A CRICKET

ticklin the bored monkey from the bored monkey yacht club NFT has never been so fucking easy

you say steadfast in your red shirt you throw

dollar bills out from your pocket onto the face

of your bored monkey from bored monkey yacht club NFT

who shoots lasers out from his bored monkey eyes

and who knows if bored monkeys can cry?

The Meadow Katydid has long and narrow wings.

It has a green and warm coat.

Its cry is a series of click click clicks followed by a faint

and I was there down below that bridge

next to the tall trees and tin cans

I was down there loading your other bored monkey ape

from bored monkey ape NFT with missiles

sliding them down his throat like popsicle sticks

he was different because

he had a crown and no eyes and

was dead mostly from the missiles down his throat

I guess

For the Meadow Katydid, adjectives such as robust, rugged, and hardy all come to mind.

It’s cry, a quiet buzz, makes capture difficult.

Its long legs blot out the world.

I wonder:

can the bored monkey from bored monkey yacht club NFT

the one with the sunglasses? nah the

other one with the grin and oranges for eyes

anyway – can the bored monkey slice into the in-betweens between my heart and grocery bag

scream the archy arch arches whisper

blood clots and sandcastles flick flick

the anxiety off my shoulders

The Meadow Katydid, with its muted body, prefers weedy areas that receive lots of sun.

Their sudden, swift movements make it hard to keep in a net or a cage.

Very beautiful.

***

we have a bad fight

beneath your sink I light a grocery bag on fire

your bored monkey from bored monkey yacht club NFT

sits lonely by the kitchen counter for you can no longer purchase any bored monkeys

from bored monkey yacht club NFT

I grabbed his hands

stare into

his meadowed eyes

a thousand katydids erupt from his pupils

their long legs slashing the air

in two my name

is called I fall

to the ground open my mouth

and spin

Shin Watanabe was born in Gainesville, Florida and has lived in New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Nevada. He studied philosophy at the University of Minnesota and received an MFA in poetry at the University of Las Vegas. Shin is currently a PhD candidate in English with a creative dissertation in poetry at Binghamton University. His poetry has appeared previously in the Colorado Review, I-70 review, and others.