3 Poems

Featuring “mint,” “domestic idiot,” and “algorithm,” from Ivanna Baranova’s new book CONFIRMATION BIAS

Ivanna Baranova 

domestic idiot

most situations

are a test

of powerlessness

i don’t control

the stakes

of your

disengagement

get it?

i don’t control

the stakes

of anything

i don’t mean

to suggest

you own me

but when you

put it like

that

mint

wow

what an honor

to even

have a place

to call

your graveyard

some final

emotional internship

in the search

for earthly

belonging

i went looking

to replicate

my dreams

in normative

motion

placating

bodily needs

thru nature’s

continuous touch

i railed soft

mint essence

of a forest’s

early scar

i was looking

for a different

outcome

my mortal

orbit

always

exhausting

itself thru

breathing’s

confused

production

knowing

growth

is the natural

interpretation

of transcendence

knowing

transcendence

is compatible

with failure

knowing

failure

necessarily

takes the form

of devotion

algorithm

the habit

always

dies

before

the

impulse

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