Jenny Zhang

your pubes are everywhere

your pubes are everywhere
when I sleep
they cover me like my mother’s blankets
cover me
when I eat
they stay in the gaps between my teeth
and I savor them
like I savor dark meat
like I savor endless moments
like I savor the end of eternity
like I savor the bush meat of my bush
which is the bush from whence we were conceived
‘lil animals who arrive sans pubes
‘lil beasts who cannot wait to trim the pubes
they do not yet have
‘lil pubes that cannot wait to live their dead life
I cannot wait to be reborn a pube
I cannot wait to be a stray pube
sprouting from your perfect hairless asshole
the rosebud that was invaded
by a single pube
me who loves you
who loves your pubes
as much or a little less than I love you
I mean as much or a little more than you
I mean to tell you I love you
to tell you your pubes are everywhere
to tell you your pubes must live where I live
to tell you your pubes must know as much as I know
to tell you your pubes must feel sad when I feel sad
to tell you your pubes must spread and multiply
when the world is no more
when you are no more
when I am no more
when it’s a matter of life or death
that your pubes go on
and I won’t be there to appreciate
the art left behind by the dead
whatever it was they wanted to communicate
to the next world
is left to the hands of those
appointed to decipher the past
I am not those
I am not going to decipher anything
I just want to float on the dried up seas
I just want to floss my teeth
I just want to attach curlies to my eyes
and bat an eyeful of pubes
at the next beautiful man I see

JENNY ZHANG is the author of the poetry collection, Dear Jenny, We Are All Find (Octopus Books, 2012). She writes for teenage girls at Rookie magazine and teaches high school students in the Bronx. You can find her at jennybagel.com.