trying to come up with my favorite dinosaur

i think it is a jr. or our planet earth

which not many people know is shaped like a dinosaur

can’t really have any children

but maybe one day we find a godzillasaurus egg

there are things like that out among the stars

you wonder how they were created

how birthed and how mutated until

here in this moment and in this form

rogue cells from here and there

enter a black hole and exit a white hole

transform into this monster intent on domination

always found godzilla jr. more interesting than son of godzilla

they both survived or didn’t survive kind of terrible situations

some decisions had to be made that couldn’t be helped

it’s true bad things happen to good people

they turn radioactive or go into meltdown and burn away

man that sucked when destoroyah blasted jr. with micro-oxygen

a world or a dinosaur can only take so much

I bet it was even worse after

like all oxygen everywhere was gone

imagine having atomic blasts directed through your throat

they probably give you something like a sunburn

only it’s on the inside and makes it hard to talk or swallow

is it harder to lose a sibling or a parent or a child? I don’t want to know

there are all these conflicting ideas about what makes a best self

maybe mine is one that wrecks everything to beat a monster

walks triumphantly through the rubble after

not entirely opposed to razing what’s left of it

because that’s how it’s always been done

godzilla dies godzilla raids again

godzilla is frozen godzilla dies again

sometimes the funeral is quiet

sometimes autumn’s violins sob loud

every generation roars its own roar while it’s here

hopes another will hear it and keep roaring

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About the Author

Giuseppe Manley (they/them) is a queer Black poet from Maine. They have 2 dogs, work in IT, & are fond of making three item lists. They worked as Poetry Editor for The Open Field & reader for Puerto Del Sol. Follow them on Twitter & on IG @gehnmy.