Ky Lohrenz
CONTAINMENT FAILURE

At the party, I watch drunk men piss in a sink &
all I see is freedom. How’d I get here—
eyeing their semis, feigning indifference,
waiting for the rain to stop. Tell me
how it feels. Like the swelling head
of a thundercloud before the pleasure
of a clap? Or nothing at all. Go home.
The sink reeks of dehydration, rusting fluids.
But one time we swallowed fish whole
to see who had the biggest stomach.
Ribs in the drain & bellies full of gold.
It’s the same search for a gulp, suddenly
thirstier than I’ve ever been in my life.


Ky Lohrenz is a Gulf Coast transplant living in Brooklyn. Their poems have appeared in Peach MagGhost City Review, and Streetcake Magazine, among others.

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