Why I Hate Election Years By Leah Mueller

I have already tried in a tiny room to see a larger one but there is no space left can you understand this can it even be done without a hula hoop or a piece of pie or a poodle mohawk no one knows and I am not anyone the last time somebody trifled with me I pushed them they pushed me and then I ran and hid inside a fish floating beside a plate the bottle remained on the shelf without a glass it looked like stars it looked like shooting it came after me despite my attempts to conceal what I was thinking sometimes my thoughts are like worms in shoes the confusion comes and goes in red waves and blue waves and everyone slamming their fists on the table of their mind a bottle of thoughts a bottle of rage shaken by an invisible hand a tornado of carbonation a Bible in one glove and a gun in the other why do I keep wandering across the land looking for corners when there are only cul-de-sacs filled with cats whose teeth are bared oh America you have not disappointed me you are exactly what I expected stretched out on a hospital bed with your tub of fluids clock beating in time with your frail heart the center of which turns like a kaleidoscope of fury I will love you again on the condition that you love me back your handles grasp me even as I try to take hold of them again and again and again it can’t be long now I wish it would stop it never stops your field still holds me captive and my mother is in her trailer my mother is crazy and my brother is a criminal we are all criminals and we are all saints like traffic lights turning red then green then yellow just keep going the same speed to be on the safe side but there is no safety in the desert no safety in the ocean no safety in your mind just you America 

Leah Mueller is a Tulsa-based poet and prose writer. Her work is published in Rattle, NonBinary Review, Brilliant Flash Fiction, Citron Review, New Flash Fiction Review, Does It Have Pockets, Outlook Springs, Your Impossible Voice, etc. She has received several nominations for Pushcart and Best of the Net. One of her short stories appears in the 2022 edition of Best Small Fictions. She has been featured in numerous venues, including the New York Poetry Festival, Creative Colloquy in Tacoma, WA, and Everett Poetry Night in Everett, WA. Leah is a freelance arts journalist for the Sierra Vista Herald/Review. Her fourteenth book, "Stealing Buddha" was published by Anxiety Press in 2024. Website: http://www.leahmueller.org.