Because I’m Bad Ass and I Said So by Ruben Rodriguez

Because I’m Bad Ass and I Said So

Ruben Rodriguez

I ride rollercoasters on the tracks
let carts full of imaginary screams
rush over my heart squished on rails
the valves like underwater creatures
the squirm and worm of drowning life.

A camera bolted to wood post
upside down in plank webbing. I live
inside the camera. Watch the people
soar, excited in a free-fall motorcade.

I’m the leaf fallen to the driveway
torn after the fact. My flame dyed
brethren plumped commercial neat. Who

dares burst through this day dream bubble?
Dare imagine with 3D printer quality. It’s me

swirled into a whirlpool of what I want.

Ruben Rodriguez writes, paints, and wastes his time at the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains. He is the fiction editor of The Great American Lit Mag and author of the chapbook We Do What We Want (Orange Monkey Publishing, 2015). His poems have appeared in OxMag, Welter, The Stillwater Review, Dewpoint, Suisun Valley Review, Perceptions, and elsewhere. He’s here: www.rubenstuff.com.

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