“AGENCY”

No—I don’t want to own
my Agency any longer. I want
to short the neon sign above
its door, flickering: Choose! Now!
Here! You can even leave
your shoes on inside, forget Chinese
norms. No—I refuse those norms
and these ones too. One can’t please
anyone by pondering and pondering orbs.
Or plucking futures like apples, heavy
with promise (love? no—worms).

Ugh. I said ugh. I said take it ugh-way!
to the bank officer waving the bond
for my Agency. It’s yours now, take it, take
me like Hades took Persephone. With gifts:
red dusks and red fruits.
Then: bridges, breaths, and oblivion.

— Stephanie Yue Duhem is writing out of Austin, TX. She can be found online at www.sydpoetry.com.