Macks Cook
dirge in mario kart skies
u would drive off the track
twisting the chewed-on foam
wheel controller
u would hurtle through
wario’s goldmine
get some pixel
of ur bike stuck
in a moving cart
u would ragequit
on the wii u can
drive backwards
for a long time
with nothing
turning u around
on rnbw rd
u would
knock me off
int2 the stars
over & over
u wanted me
2 stop missing
glittering ramps up
and forward
u hated me soft
u hated my fag hands
fumbling the b button
for a trick in the air
my toad in 3rd place
u, you in first
in juvie u grabbed a
girl by her hair
for calling u gay
ur old gf came 2 ur funeral
u taught her to look for burn marks
on motel room ceilings
drunk in galvy yrs later,
she swore the methheads
left ur face up there
above the bed
evry sky is u
every one knows it
every sky
finds u in it
still
i still play toad
nobody i know
really knows u
but when we play
mario kart switch
i only pick wii maps
and i don’t try to win
lakitu taunts me
when i try 2 do
really anything
like u used 2
in mario kart
its hard even
2 look at the sky
on the wii u cld
drve bkwrds
4 a long time
it was ez
2 find u
there
then
Macks Cook (they/them) is a trans poet from Texas. They hold an MFA from Syracuse University, where they acted as co-editor-in-chief of Salt Hill. Their work is published or forthcoming in Poetry Online, Columbia Journal, Off Season Mag, and underblong. You can find out more on their website mackscook.com.
