Maya Jewell Zeller: My Children Build "Everybody's Dream Land"

Maya Jewell Zeller
MY CHILDREN BUILD “EVERYBODY’S DREAM LAND” (“Anybody Would Like to Live Here”)

Begin by skinning
an animal. This plastic woman

has, like, 200 acres,
and she has so many couches,

and she isn’t even going to share.
She’s rich, rich, rich.

She’s not a vegetarian.
Pretend this action man

comes along. Don’t you have
a flower garden? I need to build

a larger flower garden. Okay.
I have two gray pieces

and one other one, which means
I have three gray pieces.

I’m going to make a sack
with all these gray pieces.

We can put in the animal parts.
We can make such a high tower.

I think if we had more
and more we could make the highest

tower ever. With all this tinkering,
we’ll be up to the sky in no time.

Well, I’m okay if you wanna
unbuild me. Really? That’d be so

helpful. Let’s just ruin you.

Maya Jewell Zeller is the author of Rust Fish (Lost Horse Press, 2011), Yesterday, the Bees (Floating Bridge Press, 2015), and, with visual artist Carrie DeBacker, the forthcoming collaborative collection Alchemy for Cells & Other Beasts (Entre Rios Books, October 2017). Maya teaches poetry and poetics for Central Washington University. Follow her on Twitter @MayaJZeller.