CASSANDRA DE ALBA
i wish an infinite number of people had disappeared
deer in the meadows by the wrecks of smoking cars
deer in the shadows by the libraries, the ravines
behind the schools
deer leaping across dirt roads where girls
were last seen
deer nuzzling in the garbage dumps
where the bodies are found
deer flashing through the fields like knives
deer shooting through the forest like a gun
The Gazelle Boys Are All a Hoax
run as a guttural, an invective,
a call to arms. a syllable
of need. your myth
and master. who’s to say
they have never been real,
not one, no single boy
machined by nature
to a greater purpose
than human’s pace?
who’s to say
that on some savannah
there is not a boy
with legs faster
than his heart, balloons
of dust behind him,
ahead a clear
and cowering sky?
Cassandra de Alba’s work can be found in ILK, Red Lightbulbs, Illuminati Girl Gang, and NAP, among others. Her most recent chapbooks are called Bloodlust (No Spaceships Allowed) and
Special Bitch Academy. She lives in Massachusetts and posts iCarly screencaps at outsidewarmafghans.tumblr.com.
I have a flask that I bought on the street in Moscow in high school. It has multiple hammer & sickles on it and is probably made of something unbelievably toxic and I have drunk a lot of whiskey out of it over the years.