The Poem About All the Things You Don't Like, Which Is Titled "Fungible" by Kyla Houbolt

"You don't like weak women; you get bored so quick.
You don't like strong women cause they're hip to your tricks."
-- Joni Mitchell
You don't like cheese or saying
cheese for a photo. Headaches.
You don't like those, do you?
I bet you don't like that I'm now
making up things for you not to like.
Always, people did that to you,
making up their minds
about what you liked and didn't.
Butchering your name. Pretending
to know you better than you, they
sell you shit based on lies
you buy and pretend to like.
There's nothing else on the market.
All this marketing, this making up
of lies, twists reality into
irresolvable patterns and then
what are you going to do? You
remain lost, for years, mired in
invisible foolishness. Your
non-fungible existence mines
hard for gold. Yet even that, even
touching and holding its weight
in your hands, doesn't really
prove a damn thing, does it?
I mean, quantum physics
isn't real either.
Kyla Houbolt (she, her) occupies Catawba territory in Gastonia, NC. Her first two chapbooks, Dawn's Fool and Tuned were published in 2020. More about them on her website, https://www.kylahoubolt.com/ Her individually published pieces online can be found on her Linktree. She is on Twitter @luaz_poet.