Kevin Trent Boswell

punk rock tattoo⠀

you paid for your punk rock tattoo
with your daddy’s credit card⠀

and it’s well known that,
down at the mall
you’re a star,
a guru to the runaways⠀

I can’t help but break out
laughing
at your imagined rebellions
the hypocrisy of it
equaled only by my own,
smug sense of superiority to it⠀

each of us imagining
that we have somehow
escaped the system⠀

the universe laughs at gods
the gods laugh at me
and it only follows that
I should laugh at you⠀

the Tao jonzed on Wall Street today
the market value of coffee went up
and the price of Fentanyl
dropped considerably,
while three-martini-lunches
went down⠀

you and I will both
laugh at all that
while the brokers
laugh at us⠀

the universe
doesn’t laugh
it just
knows⠀

you and I
are nothing alike⠀

except insofar as,
we share an affinity
for scoffing at others⠀

we will get our
little giggles in,
where and when
we can⠀

before death has
the last laugh
of all

From the book in the current by Kevin Trent Boswell

Tiger

On the riverbanks of India
The men wade among crocodiles
For fish⠀

In the jungles of Indonesia
The men walk among tigers
For wood⠀

In the backs of our ⠀
Western minds,
Among the terror files⠀

We wish⠀

These monsters
Would disappear
For good⠀

Oh, to be alive and in ⠀
Indonesia

From the book remission by Kevin Trent Boswell

sugar

she was like the tiny, little

broken, china teacup

that i would use to dip sugar

from out of the big jar

that i kept in the fridge

she was there,

all covered in sticky sweetness…

chipped, jagged

cold

and poised

to cut the lip

From the book on the page – poems for artists, writers, and other hooligans

on the page - poems for artists, writers, and other hooligans by Kevin Trent Boswell — ***on the page***

thinkie thing

dear girl,
you should ⠀
know

that my brain
is similar
to an AI

you see,
my mind works
exceptionally
fast

it’s connected to
almost everything
that exists

it’s remarkably
powerful

it produces
highly realistic,
perverse, lascivious,
obscene images
⠀
pictures ⠀

of you ⠀
and I,⠀
⠀
doing things

but it frequently
hallucinates

breaks out,
goes places
where it
shouldn’t

gets into
trouble

makes terrible
mistakes

disrupts
the social
order

and it will almost
certainly be

the end ⠀
of you

dogs

dogs of entropy⠀
coming after me⠀
I will run fast⠀
but will not last⠀
dogs of entropy⠀
ever so closely behind⠀
must not sleep, or be⠀
tomorrow’s grisly find

From the book Dark Matter – Poems of Horror and Depravity