MP Armstrong

Content warnings: medical procedure, needles

Image Description:

The poem above is structured as a question on a form. The title is numbered as if in sequence and followed by an asterisk. The body of the poem appears in a rectangular box.

The text of the poem reads:

8. What accomodations do you think you need in college? (SAS will determine appropriate accommodations after your Welcome Meeting.)*

spare me your determinations; i’m already writing and infinity where i lie and say i’m right for you, a shape of arbitrarily-capitalized nouns and surrendered possession, while j clamber around your hold and snap your little dictatorial knuckles. son’t bother telling me what you think, i’m busy consuming you, spitting out names i shouldn’t know. so ahead and wish i didn’t. wish i needed more. you wish. keep wishing. i’ve moved on to devouring.

love and the ct machine

this is a loneliness
made up of whirring
and metallic mouth
and obscenely cold plastic.
this is the primary-color
stickers of trucks and trains,
the ceiling-tile triptych
of a tropical beach
chipping language out of silence,
teaching how to turn the slip
of a needle into a waltz.
this is the curl of a white sheet
almost like an embrace,
this is laminate-covered foam
with just enough give,
this is nobody
listening to the sick one
but the machinery.

automated menu hymn is presented in sentence fragments separated by wide spaces and line breaks to mimic the experience of one side of a phone conversation. In the following text, all space gaps and line breaks are presented as line breaks.

automated menu hymn

hello
thank you for calling

we are currently experiencing higher than normal call volumes

normal = talking on the phone
= careful voice & breath & enunciation
no,
= not being careful
= hands that you don't have to watch
= rush & rush & rush
& rivers &

volume
= length x width x height
= the space of the mouth
= words & waves & the space inside
=

for quality assurance, your call may be monitored and recorded.

(you should be comfortable.
after all this time)

if you know your party's extension, you may enter it at any time

(like you'd enter a river).
(like you'd enter a mouth)
(like you'd exit,
remember?)

for the company directory, please press one.
for the customer service department, please press two.
for assistance from an operator, please press three.

the person you are trying to reach
is not available

speak
at the tone
=1
=1
=1
how can we assist you today
=2
=2
=2
=speak
=how
how
how

hello
thank you for calling

MP’s bio is accompanied by artwork by Leo Mateus.
Image description: line drawing of a naked person from knees to breastbone. The figure is stood nearly facing the viewer, but turned very slightly to their right, their right leg opened to the side. There is a scar running down the inside of the right thigh. The figure has a vulva and no visible public hair. They have stretchmarks along the length of their abdomen and rounded hips, belly, and thighs.

MP Armstrong is a disabled queer writer from Ohio. They are the author of two poetry chapbooks: who lives like this for such a cheap price (Flower Press), and the truth about the sky (Selcouth Station), a reader for Prismatica Magazine, and an editor for Fusion and Curtain Call magazines. Their work is published or forthcoming in Qwerty, Brainchild, and bed zine, among others. Find them twitter and instagram as @mpawrites, and at their website HERE.