Taylor Seaberg—Poetry

Analogy

Green is to grass
as blue is to sky
Rural is to soil
as urban is to pavement
The first time I heard the word analogy
It was the first time I learned that if a word is set
It so follows that another is
Always implicated in its existence
We lead by comparison
Dog is to canine
As cat is to feline

Girlfriend is to girlfriend as
Wife is to wife
At a family reunion
they parade a ring of laughter and applause
They are enticing a new song
Let the folklore of a Billie Holiday croon drip
circles around their unhinged faces
let it be a resounding force
Let an acoustified version of Hotline Bling
which has been on the centerfold of your mind
Create a pressurized connect between your fingertips
And the guitar’s cherry wood fretboard
When you were singing there was always a girl involved
Your heartbreak communicated in the only way it knew
But
Instinctively I change the pronouns of the gender to offset
My tongue
my mouth becomes heteronormative
A closeted version of itself
Make every song about woman become boy
Match the words in the according sentence
Boyfriend is to girlfriend
as husband is to wife
Dress is to woman
As suit is to man
my tongue becomes a mismatched analogy

Cat is to dog
as snake is to mongoose
My white aunt tells me not to
Give into “black propaganda”
spread by thug protesters, looting
The intercity she’d never set foot in outside
Of teaching those same black and brown bodies
Sitting pressed
upright in her elementary school classroom
She reprimands them for talking their “gangsta speak”
and negating them their “proper English”
the same proper that their hands raised respectable failed
To get called on in class,
But will get called on by a gun
Will be replenished with gun spray
My aunt figures this would be remedied
With a tightened belt buckle and a diploma
Cop is to protection
As protester is to thug
White is to pure
As black is to impure
I scratch out the mismatch
remove my bones from the closet
Cop is to thug
As protester is to protection
War is to necessary
As peace is to useless
War is to useless
As peace is to necessary
I scratch out the mismatch

Picture is to blurred
As knife is to blunt
The words swirl before my eyes
Imagery bounces above my brain
imaginary
I am clouded in white sugar, lines
Begin to blur into one another on a
Blanketed mirror
I can still think
I can still think
and I wish for that to fade dull

Cocaine is to happy
As sober is to unhappy

My best friend tells me that every
Musician he has ever met is somewhat unhappy
The really good ones anyways
He would be an alcoholic if it wasn’t for his passion
And we trade sangria for tequila shots
Stumble drunk happy down a road of nostalgia
I drink in the parking lot with roommates
We puke laughter
so much our livers hurt
She kisses me when we are drunk
And for the first time I actually feel her affection
Alcohol is to happy
as sober is to unhappy

Ring is to wedding
As papers are to divorce
She is fascinated with me when
We first date
I begin to show interest
Let down the walls of vulnerability
She soon fades dull
To nonexistent
Into the rebound my birth
Was conceived around mother and father
A mirror image of infidelity I repeat
Cyclical as though it is genetic to me
Hookup is to happy
as being alone is to unhappy

I scratch out the mismatch

The world is to me
As I am to the world
And I scratch
Erase
And I scratch
Erase
And I scratch

Taylor Seaberg is a spoken word slam poet and musician based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. A military dependent who traveled the world from a young age, Taylor is constantly re-framing her perspective on the world, creating relationships with new and culturally rich context every day.