Chant for the Whole

don't think like a victim don't walk like a victim don't talk like a victim don't breathe like a victim don't look like a victim don't wear that skirt don't eat like a victim don't drink like a victim don't sleep like a victim don't dream like a victim

save yourself

don't walk like a victim don't talk like a victim don't breathe like a victim don't look like a victim don't dress like a victim don't eat so fast don't drink like a victim don't sleep like a victim don't dream like a victim don't think like a victim

say these words

don't talk like a victim don't breathe like a victim don't look like a victim don't dress like a victim don't eat like a victim don't chug that beer don't sleep like a victim don't dream like a victim don't think like a victim don't walk like a victim

save yourself

don't breathe like a victim don't look like a victim don't dress like a victim don't eat like a victim don't drink like a victim don't sleep with him don't dream like a victim don't think like a victim don't walk like a victim don't talk like a victim

say these words

don't look like a victim don't dress like a victim don't eat like a victim don't drink like a victim don't sleep like a victim don't flash back don't think like a victim don't walk like a victim don't talk like a victim don't breathe like a victim

save yourself

don't dress like a victim don't eat like a victim don't drink like a victim don't sleep like a victim don't dream like a victim don't blame him don't walk like a victim don't talk like a victim don't breathe like a victim don't look like a victim

say these words

don't eat like a victim don't drink like a victim don't sleep like a victim don't dream like a victim don't think like a victim don't swing your hips don't talk like a victim don't breathe like a victim don't look like a victim don't dress like a victim

save yourself

don't drink like a victim don't sleep like a victim don't dream like a victim don't think like a victim don't walk like a victim don't say he did don't breathe like a victim don't look like a victim don't dress like a victim don't eat like a victim

say these words

don't sleep like a victim don't dream like a victim don't think like a victim don't walk like a victim don't talk like a victim don't struggle for air don't look like a victim don't dress like a victim don't eat like a victim don't drink like a victim

save yourself

don't dream like a victim don't think like a victim don't walk like a victim don't talk like a victim don't breathe like a victim don't hunch like that don't dress like a victim don't eat like a victim don't drink like a victim don't sleep like a victim

say these words

don't think like a victim don't walk like a victim don't talk like a victim don't breathe like a victim don't look like a victim don't dress like a victim don't eat like a victim don't drink like a victim don't sleep like a victim don't dream like a victim

save yourself

say these words

Titanoboa cerrejonensis



             is bigger than a city bus
 mocks your preconceptions of how big 
temptations to wisdomsin can get

wouldn't need your charcoal & knives
to eat a cow
              can't spill spinal fluid
    in grindings of an abattoir 
 when you swallow skin-whole
                             easily as milk

and probably ate
ancestors of tears (crocodile
anyway   my bones

               have been revealed
in an open-pit coal mine
metal jaws pulled up mine
your tropic past, dare call me snake


Zales/Jared/Kay




 ask for the precious childhood object 
    there should be music
               a spinning girl in white
        but every woman's different 
    conspire with her mother

    once you've made commitment
  worth buying diamonds for a kiss
  open the precious childhood object 
to turn design from under glass unique

give her what she had
the precious childhood
object she'll recognize 
   around a price she'll guess

Elizabeth Kate Switaj's chapbook, The Broken Sanctuary: Nature Poems, is currently available from Ypolita Press and her echap, Shanghai (has more capital), from Gold Wake Press. She edits Crossing Rivers Into Twilight and is an assistant editor for Inertia Magazine. Her professional experience includes teaching in cities throughout Japan, China, and the US as well as writing online copy for a kimono import company and conducting media research. For more information visit her WEBSITE.