Yevgeniy Levitskiy

Acceleration

I’ve been too
busy poisoning myself
to notice the
skateboards colliding
with fire hydrants,
it’s been said
that helmets are
the leading cause
of headaches among
hoodlums, seven and up.

I’ve been too
busy seeing poison
on street corners,
the elongated figures
parading down Fifth Avenue,
Ms. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
and Ms. Puerto Rican Day Parade,
entertainment for the
stay-at-home moms
and Rolls-Royce drivers.

I’ve been too
busy watching poison
on television,
the housewives on
the home shopping
network shove zirconium
necklaces and edible lingerie
down orifices.

I’ve been too
busy talking poison
to my superiors,
they mention dead-lines,
I mention death threats.

I’ve been too
busy selling poison
to notice the warning
signs from above,
the Disney-trademarked
lightning bolts and
white-washed characters.

Yevgeniy Levitskiy received a B.A. in English-Education from Brooklyn College, and is currently pursuing a M.A. His writing has been published in Hot Summer Nights (Inner Child Press), The Smoking Poet, Green Briar Review, and elsewhere. He has forthcoming publications in The Books They Gave Me (Free Press/Simon & Schuster), Everyday Other Things, and Paradise Review. He is currently at work on a middle-grade novel.