Poem: "Laptop" and Two Others at "Unlikely Stories"

The first piece I had published at Unlikely Stories was "Holy Shtick," an excerpt from my monologue The Gospel According to Saint Genet which ended up being part of my second short story collection You're Pretty Gay. Five years later, editor Jonathan Penton took a trio of my elemental sonnets ("Niobium," "Nickel," "Neodynium") which eventually became part of my second book of sonnets, Periodic Boyfriends. Are you seeing a pattern here? Now I'm back with two villanelles ("Laptop," "Apocalypse") and a third poem that came out of nowhere ("On the Matter of Vincent Price"). Will this lead to my first book of villanelles? Asking for a friend.

Laptop

This morning, I sit at my computer screen.

In theory I’m here to compose a letter

addressed to myself when I was a teen, 

from a new persona, largely unforeseen – infinitely weirder, questionably better. This morning I sit at my computer screen, 

in unsnappable pants, a camp bowling shirt, green socks, and my grandfather’s woolen sweater.

(I dressed this way when I was a teen 

so I dug up this outfit, mothballed yet clean.

I no longer wear polyester.) This morning I sit at my computer screen 

in search of that self whom I would’ve been in those long-gone days when I lived by semester. I’d hardly impress that former me. As a teen, 

I was feral, loose-lipped and mean; more keen to fuck than to love, a sporadic go-getter, who rebelled against Life as Routine. This morning, I sit at my computer screen.

"Laptop" was originally published at Unlikely Stories in March 2026. The accompanying image was previously posted to Flickr by pixellaphoto and is confirmed to be a public domain image.