Yuppified

If unique is a hibiscus-infused doughnut / i don’t want to be
unique / lavender lemonade / mason jars / gingham / i don’t

want to be pea soup / i don’t want to be potato / i don’t
want to be chicken soup / i just want to be / lavender

lemonade in a mason jar on a gingham tablecloth

/ overlooking the sea / nothing is affordable / but if you
follow my rules you can outsmart the system that is stacked

against you / don’t you want to be outstanding? /  don’t you
want to separate yourself from the pack? / & be part of the

special? / the few? / the well off? / and own property?

owning property opens up a whole world / & when you own
property you can have a garden / &in that garden / a picnic

table / & then you can buy your own tablecloth / & be draped
forever in gingham / grow your own lavender / have a lemon

tree / wander around your garden in a straw hat &gingham

/ dazed / as the earth quivers / &the people of the resistance
get old / get cancer / or die by suicide / crouching /

grabbing / squeezing all the gingham for yourself / paranoid
/ nobody is going to take this special / relaxing / gingham

from me / you think / it’s mine / you say / i need it because

i have anxiety / i suffer / you say / i worked hard for this
gingham life with my cunning / my moxie / my grit / you

say / if you guys were as exceptional as me &could afford
gingham / you wouldn’t blink / you would be draping

yourselves in stiff gingham so fast you’d get a burlap burn

By Zoe Canner

Biography:

Zoe Canner’s writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The Laurel Review, Arcturus of the Chicago Review of Books, Naugatuck River Review, SUSAN / The Journal, Maudlin House, Occulum, Pouch, Matter, Swimming with Elephants, The Birds We Piled Loosely, Chaleur Magazine, Nailed Magazine, Indolent Books’ What Rough Beast, and elsewhere. She lives in Los Angeles where she indulges in hilly walks at dusk when the night-blooming jasmine is at its peak fragrance.