Belated Bris of the Brainsick. Lucas Crawford

and nothing doing

      with bacteria and moisture and hell,

      I don’t know how anyone kept kosher

      around here but speaking of moisture,

      we cry holy water or is it a dead sea,

      and if so, why aren’t we floating, fat belly

      up, next to the cod with cartoon Xs

      on their closed eyelids and hey do fish have

      eyelids that help them not to see, not to be

      exposed to my early-morning foggy

      memory of he and me, and, of what,

      on a rounder earth, could be—?

      Telephone Games

      Tell the worms my dad’s not kosher. Tell the rabbi that the salt’s not pure. Tell the sea that its jellyfish sting. Tell the grape jelly it’s out of thin style. Tell Coco Chanel that more can be more. Tell Thomas More there are no martyrs in utopia. Tell your favourite saint that they had good pr. Tell a spin doctor to prescribe you a vinyl cure. Tell a broken record to stop crying. Tell a stop sign to go to hell. Tell the fire it’s got nothing on you. Tell yourself to live in a tree. Tell the tree to go back to its roots. Tell the roots to look around. Tell the ground to hold fast to its worms. Tell the worms my dad’s not kosher. Tell my dad he’s set beneath a stone. Tell the stone I’ll get its sword. Tell the knight I won’t take his word. Tell your words to go back to the dictionary. Tell your dictionary that you need a break. Tell your break that this is a breakdown. Tell your breakdown to wait. Tell the waiting room about your grocery list. Tell the Sobeys flier that you need dulse. Tell your dulse to season your dinner. Tell your dinner guests that the meat doesn’t need salt. Tell the salt it’s not pure. Tell the pure they incubate dead lies. Tell your lies to your rabbi. Tell your kosher grocer to warn the worms. Tell the worms my dad’s not kosher. Tell the small yarmulke it didn’t fit. Tell your Fitbit to read about cyborgs. Tell your cyborg self the nineties still matter. Tell Carrie Bradshaw you couldn’t help but wonder. Tell your Wonder Bread it needs peanut butter and apple jelly. Tell the jellyfish they make the ocean sting. Tell Sting that he can’t tell Roxanne what dress to not put on. Tell Roxanne not to call the police. Tell the police not to stand so close to me.