this does not end well


︎︎︎ Natalie Mariko

︎ October 18, 2022

i’ve smelled this pansy before
its dim purple cuffs its red
rings & penetrating o
       i’m sure
       i’ve kicked this can
              here’s
                     its stinking sibling

there is no grace in falling
just the measure of a distance
foreshortened
every declaimed taxonomy is true
                    you





























Natalie Mariko is a poet from New Jersey. She studied English & African Literature & Film at the University of Cape Town, is a member of St. Edmund's College, Cambridge, and is a former poetry editor of SAND Journal. Her works have appeared in Keith Journal, Spectra Poets, no more poetry mag, TINGE, Cixous72, trainszine, Lazy Susan/blue arrangements, The Slanted House, New Contrast, and in radio programs on reboot.FM & Cashmere Radio. She lives in Athens, Greece.

Also by Natalie: wein motif, Untitled(cartoon network), on america, dates/dates/dates, been, a river