POETRY BY MARSHALL GU

Billy Imagines A World Where You Don’t Exist

Not maliciously, of course!
When he was a child, he watched
His mother stalk around the room
Improvised weapon in hand, chasing the buzz
Of a trapped housefly.
It’s too dumb to fly out the window on its own,
She said. It’s too dumb
So we have to kill it.
Billy could be smarter. His mother said as much.
He imagines himself a housefly
Trying desperately to will its way through
This transparent barrier.
Billy wants to imagine a world where he is smarter
A world where he can talk to you
But because Billy cannot do this, instead
He imagines a world where you don’t exist.

Marshall Gu is a poet, born and based in Toronto. He has had poems and short stories published in Untethered Magazine V 5.1, the Dalhousie Review, the Spadina Literary Review, Cypress Press, the Junebug Journal and Clay Literary, and more. In addition, he is a music writer, and is currently a contributor to the Tone Glow and Two Story Melody. Twitter: @freecitysounds