Poems by L Scully

they don’t make ‘em like they used to
cut from a scholarly cloth
I should have been
an academic. lazy and
ideological like all
academics
I have such stupid dreams.
aroused by terms such as
self-directed I cry into
my hummus plate for
one, the students behind
me say food blogger
is a backup job.
you say holding
a carrot you imagine
generations
of hands working in
unison to produce such
a prize, which is poetic
if not anthropological.
a stint in archaeology
class rendered me strange
at foreplay –
during intimacy I
only want to be
uncovered.

it wants what it wants
I have nothing to say because
I am stupid. I want
to do stupid things like
feed my dog edibles and
participate in a love
triangle. I am
only going to do one
of those things in actuality
and let’s just say
I have the heart of a

dog.

stupid triptych
i
only smart people know
how stupid they are. you
asked if your big
words attracted
me,
I said what attracts me is
the word hello

ii
if you work really hard
and inherit a lot of
money
you can get what you want.
I don’t work
and I don’t inherit
so I guess I wouldn’t
know

iii
whether sex is
a privilege or a need
is a stupid question.
some questions are just
stupid
and I want to
get railed.

accountability check
anti-intellectualism is
the state of my new
bravado. I used
to be smart like I
used to have long hair,
a lot of knots from
the neck up.
I’ll probably change
my mind about all
this
I’ll probably change.

what the fuck does that even mean
I like poems that
say I love you I mean
that literally.
reading the words
out like that
we can each pretend
it’s about us. everything
is about us because
we are the inventors
of time. seriously
look it up, how rail travel
impacted the human psyche.
or don’t I don’t
care, your education
is not my prerogative.
but
your love is,
and
at least one of us
is better off stupid.

L Scully (they/them) is a living writer. They have a memoir out with @gnashingteethpublishing and a poetry collection forthcoming from @dopaminebooksla. You can find more of their work online @no.more.prostitutes @reapthrill @poetrytrapperkeeper @bullshitlit and Hobart. They run @working_title_boston and are the cofounder and EIC of @madness_press. Sometimes they go on tour. If you fall in love with them, their DMs are open.