Three Poems from Rebecca Jessen
YOUR DAILY HOROSCOPE | LIBRA
for Shastra Deo
24 SEPTEMBER 2020
This is a day where you need to retrograde your emotions. September
lacks a good thread-count and all resentments are interplanetary.
Resolve your struggles with the far-flung moon. The restrictions
approve personal siestas. You’re looking tender on Jupiter with your
best-laid confrontations. Make sure you distance sentimental
horizons: go mask-on in future. In your past I see an unconscious
tsunami. Don’t question this lingering life. Postpone conversations as
Mars goes into haunting. Reconsider your presence.
Want to know what the rest of your future holds? Call now to get your
full horoscope chart reading.
Editors Note: Due to our text editors limited functionality the format of this poem has been slightly altered.
AITA: Am I (f35) controlling the lives of my Sims too much by not enabling free will?
It’s not that I need to be in control
at all times it’s just
I don’t like the way you interact
when I’m not watching
I want to guide you towards
your best Sims life
why not improve a skill
turn strangers into friends
study for your History exam
join the Willow Creek soccer team
cap it off with a jaunt
at the Plumbob Pictures Museum
I’m not a control freak
I just don’t like to enable
free will
I sell all the electronic devices
until you are left standing
in a room with no task
and yet you still find a way
to set something on fire
cooking on the grill
with zero skill level
now you’ve got a deathly fear
of fire that I can’t extinguish
don’t invite the reaper
with your absent-mindedness
don’t insult the neighbour
when they bring over fruitcake
if you’re going to flirt
at least make sure
your wife isn’t in the room
stop trolling the forums at 1am
and complete your daily task
hug your child or flatter your wife
take a steamy shower
freshen up in the mirror
read ‘Cooking: Lvl 1’
but for the love of Sims
please don’t cook chimichurri burgers
on the grill
browse web
watch romance
play video game
cancel interaction
cancel interaction
cancel interaction
Sequel
after Digging into Eternity
This view hasn’t changed in the five years
since we were last here
except the grass is taller now
home to crows. Laneway
succulents have multiplied
but the light remains
and the breeze still buffets
through the louvre windows
as the trains gallop by.
Five years ago
we were still tangled
in your triangle
which was technically our triangle;
it would be your last
east-coast tour
from me
to him
but none of us knew it yet.
And now we do the same things
we did that first last time
order the vegan duck pancakes
from the Vietnamese place on King St
eat the chocolate ganache and caramel pie
take the same route home from the train
winding through the back streets
look up realestate.com.au every time
we come across a gothic terrace house
say hello to the laneway cats
take selfies in the rainbow morning light
sit by the bay window and drink
bougie tinned spritzes at dusk
fall asleep to house hunters international
sit at our favourite café with the high
bar stools and the bi-folds
so we can watch the dogs go by.
There are even more rainbows this time
on flags draped from shoulders and balconies
chalked onto footpaths tinselled
through the grass sculpted into beacons
painted onto faces projected on the sails
of the Opera House on billboards
and every shop front urging us
be fabulous darlings.
Turns out I’m more me
than I’ve ever been
here and with you
so I don’t think
about any of those other things
from five years ago
except to remember the way
the prisms of light fell
on our faces.
Find more from Rebecca on her Website, Instagram, and grab a copy of her book Ask Me About the Future if you liked what you read here today!
An exclusive bonus poem from Rebecca will be out on the Baby Teeth Patreon later this week.
