Gavin Lucky
philip
‘Let’s give it a name’
and someone thinks
oh
god
this nonsense
next she’s going to ask me
for my spirit
animal
I’m supposed to name
this swirling vortex
of fear
and regret and
pain—
an octopus made out of—
that might as well be my
self for all the use it gets,
might as well be my life
for all it dictates—
‘Philip, his name is Philip.’
And I realize it is my
lips moving to make the sound
after I’ve said it.
Gavin Lucky is an English and Humanities teacher currently living in Istanbul. Previous work has been published in Shot Glass Journal.
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