{yes, this whole thing is the poem}

write this without using the word EMPTY

A: what would envy do in an empty room?
B: describe the shape of something
C: why won’t the door open?
A: stands in a corner one shoulder to each wall
D: the memory of a taste or texture in the mouth
E: a sound in the distance and its echo
B: triangles of ice like pineapple in red jello
F: what’s on the floor?
G: where is the sound coming from?
H: envy makes a noise
I: something envy remembers
J: why not try the window?
K: something to do with the temperature
L: something to do with the noise
M: did you assume envy was alone?
C: locked from the outside -- by whom?
D: the rasp of rice not steamed long enough
N: (what would want want?)
E: rifleshot or firecracker
F: spent casing, a broken lego piece
O: use the words carbuncle and flirtation
G: six feet from the window
H: arr arr arr arr, low in the throat, phlegmy
I: always the A minus, minus
P: what is envy’s prayer here?
J: the window painted shut, black
K: the late sun, a magnifying glass
L: report and its echo, a shot
M: who else would be there?
who else throw the lock?
N: everything
O: carbuncle to lip gloss, a flirtation
Q: refer to the first line
Q?/P?: forgive us our trespasses


research: envy and suicide/death, tabanca, jealous rage and murder-suicide