if i were a worm would you still love me?
i’m asking because the stakes are that high /
during your manic episode /
you laid out the apocalypse for me / i
didn’t question you / when / you said you were god /
we must learn to survive / i listened to you
as you explained how / the wormholes will
get us before the zombies do /
i believed you when you told me about /
wormholes swallowing providence / i
listened and contemplated my survival skills.
when the time comes i’ll be ready / here /
i built you this time machine using my 07’ Honda Civic / we can
escape the apocalypse
we’ll be equipped with / time / our hands / a rosary of our baby teeth / our moms can
still sing in this / timeline / and we’ll be worms in a garden.
last night i watched you tattoo yourself / your forearm bloody / you were
covered in your own sweat / sometimes people just want to be
forgiven /
you said that / there will be a garden
during the apocalypse / because there still has to be something
that survives /
i have been teaching myself to garden / because my father
is my father / you reminded me / that worms consume /
that entire July / i was a heart outside of itself / a worm
in the garden / flesh outside of flesh / flesh outside of flesh /
swallowing / planting mint leaves outside of your childhood home /
there will be a garden / and
before the apocalypse comes / i’ll build you a garden / in every
universe / it is inevitable / i would still offer you a garden /
while / getting consumed / by an all-swallowing / wormhole.
if i were a worm would you still love me?
you’re asking me / because the stakes
are that high / and after contemplating the
apocalypse you laid out
for me / i know / for a fact /
i would still love you / if you were a worm / in
every reality of the apocalypse / i would build you a garden.
Blue Đào Nguyễn (IG: @blue.ngu) is a Vietnamese-Teochew (潮州話) non-binary lesbian poet, artist, and organizer. Their work, inspired by cartography and Vietnamese architectural symbolism, explores grief, prayer, and livelihood through poetry, oral history, and traditional Viet woodworking & fiber art, using organic materials. Viewing material as altar : poetics as prayer. Their debut collection, Hey Siri, What Time is it in Vietnam? is out now with Game Over Books. Their work is featured in Foglifter, Palette Poetry, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Peach Mag, and an exhibition at 50 Arrow Gallery. They have received fellowship and/or scholarship from Lambda Literary, AIR.HUE, City of Boston x Fine Art Work Center, and more. Nominated for Best of the Net and Best New Poets, you can find them at bluenguyen.com.