Tommy Pico- Poetry

Vocal Folds

All glottal tics can be imitated
or so I’ve read–we’re all built
with roughly the same equipment.
Mariah Carey’s lifted whistle

careens around registers at Duane
Reade on Ludlow and Delancey. Mincing
in the air conditioning I blather on and on–
Singing is the weirdest most awe-

some human talent in the galaxy!
A bridge repeated too often becomes
pickle. I mean hiccup–a story told
into rut. Heatwaves beg crazy,

we call this fever pitch: snarling
man barges in and spits in my face.
This is the part where I should blow
bellow scream anything I have

a big mouth but. Security guard giggles.
Crowd’s shallow hush of confusion. Store
lights continue their hum. The man buys gum,
and leaves. Later, I wash my face.

Tommy “Teebs” Pico is the driving force behind birdsong, an antiracist/queer-positive collective, small press, and zine that publishes art and writing. Originally from the Viejas Indian reservation of the Kumeyaay nation, he now lives in Brooklyn and is working on his first collection of poetry. heyteebs.tumblr.com