CAELAN ERNEST

My Hollywood star cracks in the climate collapse

Moonmen look for the stars here–

Hate to tell you your satellites surveil

the wrong layers / Combustion

shot in heat & smoke Glam’r

gone up & up & — The only fire

I won’t put out is limerence / Dew

you know it? Carve thru

its opacity / Little screens

replace big screens / Is it me you

’re streaming from your elsewhere?

Our little democracy reaps the planet /

On the LA strip I wear a calfskin bra-let,

It’s always tourist season! / Business

as usual, This stretch of land

Booming; The transmissions—

Your receivers pick up dead noise music

like the afterglow of a star after its burst

into nova / I think I have to kill

the icon within me in order to survive—

Moonmen I gesture at the brass

beneath my archival Miu Miu heels

When I stomp hard with my heals

can you see my star sparkle up there?

I paid a lot for it a whole lotta nothing!

Here's my bio: Caelan Ernest (they/them) is a nonbinary poet, performer, and thingamajig living in Brooklyn with their cat named Salad. They are the author of night mode (published by Everybody Press). They hold an MFA in Writing from Pratt Institute. They are a publicist at Graywolf Press.