# #want

3 poems

## [the zig zag cafe](https://chromato.graphics/the-zig-zag-cafe)

mb + [ClaireViolet](https://claireviolet.cv/)

switchback stair  
market manicules  
labyrinth reveal  
a hanging garden

third place jazz  
no reservations?  
but what were we  
before ourselves

finishing a talk  
with your sister  
a tinctured fire  
fluid solidifies

all black pupils  
sadist’s leaning  
considering want  
freepouring both

lamplight yellow  
redlight therapy  
shaken & stirred  
cry our eyes out

point of returns  
now that we know  
the place’s ours  
last words echo.

## [hinge](https://chromato.graphics/hinge)

door in our place i never open  
out of fear and too much want  
touch the knob — i am shocked

sounds like a party in there  
but where is my invitation?  
missing out doesn’t scare me

sometimes, it’s open a crack  
scents from the kitchen waft  
my favorite dish on the menu

i give up. nothing better to do  
splayed on gray wool, rubbing  
nothing matches their rhythm

the guests tire, it swings open  
streamers and confetti spilling  
must be my job to clean ’em up

## [use](https://chromato.graphics/use)

craving total transformation,  
identity a disposed wrapper.  
becoming a vessel for want,  
glass poured into, overfilled.

you haven’t been here lately.  
something in our combining  
always begins this reaction:  
photochemical excited state

learning how to spark again —  
days ago: gel, pumps, bulbs,  
rattling pill bottles and nerves,  
black gloves, gold foil, silicone.

it’s warmed up enough already.  
don’t ask or guess — just _know_.  
take a part you claim as yours,  
shape it to your pleasure. use.

time stutters; the gears grind  
forward under prying pressure.  
repairing hidden mechanisms,  
counting every beat yourself.

disappearing deconstruction:  
ripped apart by heat and light,  
shredded into a thousand tiny  
pieces of steel. shrapnel blast.

there is stillness in oblivion,  
peace made in the darkness.  
clenched fists, soaked linen.  
i swear. i won’t move. i can’t.