THE RIVER SIDE
J. Artemis Mackay
This cybertruck with a guy
doing cybersex with a silicon AI
soothing his consumer conscience
cuts four lanes to make acquaintance.
My half-lidded half-attention grants mercy,
escaping with half-learned Aves Maria.
the only thing that rings true is AM radio
drive-time don’t touch that dial beckons
toward Jerusalem.
East of Eden is a tribal casino & don't worry,
I've got a system.
simmering blacktop blooms
amidst Friday night ratatat hi-hats;
benjamin button suburbs each younger than
the last. My passenger seat & the back left seat &
the center bitch seat & the back right seat all left empty
for Elijah who sensibly took the subway.
Author Bio
.png)
J. Artemis Mackay (they/them) is a writer and poet based in Portland, Ore. Their home and work rests on unceded lands of tribes and confederations of the Siletz, Grand Ronde, Clackamas, Cowlitz, and Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla, and others which are unrecognized. They are a mentally ill, neurodivergent, and trans artist working in nonfiction and poetry; recurring themes in their work include trans grief, liminal space, and suburban mundanity. A peer has said their work contains “a metabolism of the internet”, which they assume is a compliment. Their work has been published in Alchemy, Pointed Circle, and The Bellwether Review. Artemis is a first semester student in the Low Residency Creative Writing MFA at Pacific Northwest College of Art. You can find them on Bluesky at @itsartem.is.