Poetry

Lorie Shaull photo

By

Alejandro Escudé

The Genus of Collusion

I took my collusion to the dry cleaner, but when I picked it up

There was still some collusion on it. I hope I don’t get a ticket

Parking my collusion, but it’s a good day for the collusion 

So I think I’ll be fine as long as I take my collusions

At the same time every night, then my collusion won’t get mad at me. 

After all, if you don’t have your collusion, you don’t have anything. 

Save for this collusion, what’s the point of this collusion?

Suddenly, I turned and there was this collusion. I mean, I’m tired 

Of finding collusions everywhere I turn.  But you have to get used to 

The collusion, the collusion-sweeper can’t get it all.

If we all pick up a piece of the collusion, then there will be less of it,

Of collusions I mean. Can you imagine what the world would be like

If we could just forget about the collusion around us?

What a collusion-less world it would be. But it’s all your fault.

Get your mind out of the collusion, will you? Two collusions don’t make 

A right, haven’t you heard? Near Switzerland, they’re trying to collide two collusions

Together, but they just get more of the same collusion. I also heard,

The government hid some collusion in New Mexico. People there swear

They’ve seen collusions flying at night. Who knows? You can’t

Believe all the collusion you read about these days. It all comes back 

To the same collusion. I know I’m cynical as all collusion. 

Just let the collusion be, I say. If you hunt a collusion in Zimbabwe,

Go ahead and take a shot at the collusion. Please, who’s going to stop you?

How else are you going to keep the collusion from going extinct?

We need collusions to breed more collusions. It’s all about the collusion,

I’d say. You people would be surprised if you knew 

how many collusions I’ve made—this collusion and that collusion.

The collusion you’re talking about and the one they mentioned on television.

There’s no end to the collusion. It’s like the Good Book says: let any of you 

without collusion be the first to throw the first collusion at her. 

Alejandro Escudé

Alejandro Escudé’s first book of poems, My Earthbound Eye, was published in September 2013. He holds a master’s degree in creative writing from UC Davis and teaches English. Originally from Argentina, Alejandro lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.