Three Variations on Phrases I Looked Up Last Week – Jenna Obeid Mackenroth

September 8, 2026

1. THE AMMUNITION IS ALIVE
It is hurtling through the air and living.
It is ripping you apart and living.
The ammunition has places to be and it
Will go right through you just like
The river and your needle and the
Radiation. It will go right through you
On its way to living things like
Dinner and divorce court. It
Will go right through you and leave you.
It will go right through you
And think nothing of it; you are so soft
And you are so easy. You are so alive.

 

2. REVERSE COWGIRL
In the middle of the day I dreamt about
Riding bareback on the flat expanse of made-up
Place, decent people. I dreamt of bruising
My hips to get there. I was alone and I was
Happy but then I felt your hands on my back,
Too much sweat to keep on dreaming.
You kept pushing me up and over and
Back and forth like a rocking horse.
I was the industrious little machine.
I tried to distract myself with the cowboy
Figurines you kept on your nightstand. I tried
Trading places. I switched bodies, saw
Through all their lacquered eyes:
This one wants Nevada,
That one wants a pretty girl, that one
Needs for Jesus and a plot of land and to look away.
And the one on the corner closest to us,
He has both hands on his silver gun as
If he’s about to draw it and shoot us
Dead like foamy dogs for being dirty,
So indecent,
In the middle of his day.

 

3. THE ACTUAL MEMORY OF A GOLDFISH
The enemies are everywhere and I am on the run.
I cannot trust the things that live close by; it is
Out of my nature to resist escape. From brine I crawl to dry land.
I outgrow my fins for the first time, I
Am gilled and all alone on sand. And then
I miss my home but, too late. I can’t remember.
I’ve just learned how to breathe, no going back now.