& even though fluency never fully blessed my mouth / my body still grieves for Chente / the memory of my young self translating his / heartbreak lyrics with the little Spanish that stayed / on the tongue as if to say we love you / despite your broken record mouth

When the prices lower / to $100 or so, I see old age. Pleasant $325 / is named like an epiphany. Citizen $600, / a bad joke or history’s irony. / Sam $650, Lizzy $600, and Aggy $650 / suddenly proclaim gender equity.

I grew up a hunter and served as an Army Ranger. / I grew up a hunter of brown bodies and served at the pleasure of empire's frontier.