{"id":3686,"date":"2025-02-05T20:31:07","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T20:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/?page_id=3686"},"modified":"2025-02-05T22:21:09","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T22:21:09","slug":"burnout-by-garnet-juniper-nelson","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/burnout-by-garnet-juniper-nelson\/","title":{"rendered":"“Burnout” by Garnet Juniper Nelson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Our town has grown beyond itself\u00a0 \u00a0 & now must accommodate\u00a0\u00a0
a molasses tide overflowing the crumbling concrete corridors\u00a0
construction constantly complicates\u00a0 \u00a0 our commute\u00a0

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0we’ve had to learn tricks of the highway patrol\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 train ourselves
to spot their rigs\u2019 particular shade of cruel blue\u00a0 \u00a0 speeding w\/out shame\u00a0
still perpetually late \u00a0 throw my hands up apologize say that damn traffic you know<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the chef\u2014an aging anarchist\u2014couldn\u2019t care less\u00a0 \u00a0 says we’re entitled
to our hours\u00a0 \u00a0 still we delight in stealing seconds w\/ our smoke breaks
after close we just disperse\u00a0 \u00a0 return via those same choked veins\u00a0 \u00a0

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0spilling over w\/ little cells\u00a0 \u00a0 tho soon we may all be less than the water
that comprises us\u00a0 \u00a0 our element turned too toxic for a thirsty earth\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
will anyone ever ask why we couldn’t help but fail \u00a0 \u00a0 to figure out\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0how to co-op our reality alongside strangers \u00a0 \u00a0 or disable authority
w\/out derailing\u00a0 our entire society \u00a0 \u00a0 or get to our jobs w\/out
wanting to murder\u00a0 \u00a0 even ourselves\u00a0 \u00a0 & it\u2019s true absolutely\u00a0 \u00a0

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0i participate in this process \u00a0 \u00a0 w\/out hesitation tho i know between the axles
of 18-wheelers\u00a0 \u00a0 & locked in tight orbit like a carrion bird over every lexus\u00a0 \u00a0
every muscle truck \u00a0 \u00a0 every tesla\u00a0 \u00a0 is a pound of death\u00a0 \u00a0 its constant

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0eye steered by coincidence\u00a0 \u00a0 aimed at all of us\u00a0 \u00a0 as butterflies in ancient migration
stamp windshields w\/ their dust\u00a0 \u00a0 & fuckboys follow me like their tricked-out pickups
want to taste my sedan\u2019s dirty secrets\u00a0 \u00a0 & i (especially in the city)\u00a0 \u00a0 force my own

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0front end w\/in inches of most meandering minivans\u00a0 \u00a0 why do we wish we were instant\u00a0 \u00a0
except in our final moments\u00a0 \u00a0 why i wonder in traffic as we sit\u00a0 \u00a0 all strangers
bumper to bumper\u00a0 \u00a0 avoiding eye contact\u00a0 \u00a0 usually at least one arm

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0aflame in setting sun\u2019s rays\u00a0 \u00a0 can we not master our movement
from one paradigm to the next\u00a0 \u00a0 or see beyond our immediate atmospheres\u00a0 \u00a0
thru our little windows\u00a0 \u00a0 to identify & address dangers of our own creation

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0do you think\u00a0 \u00a0 i ask my fellow cook\u00a0 \u00a0 it is because we are composed of empty spaces\u00a0 \u00a0
each compelled to shorten distance\u00a0 \u00a0 bound to spiral inward &\/or outward \u00a0 bound to fall
toward other bodies & their satellites \u00a0 \u00a0 stuck on this body\u00a0 \u00a0 beneath her ghostly satellite

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>& all the artificial ones besides\u00a0 \u00a0 wait \u2018til winter <\/em>he says \u00a0 \u00a0 nobody knows how to drive<\/em>
in the snow<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0 then shows me a compilation of candid baby clips\u00a0 \u00a0 wherein they all wide-eyed
wail\u00a0 \u00a0 startled into utter breakdown\u00a0 \u00a0 w\/ the unanticipated sound of their own gas

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0& i am grateful to recall it at the filling station\u00a0 \u00a0 to have loled over baby farts tho
there\u2019s probably too many\u00a0 \u00a0 how much gas can one earth support\u00a0 \u00a0 & surely the newest
models are damned\u00a0 \u00a0 they say none of us will be around to meet them not even

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the roads\u00a0 \u00a0 will droughts not have parched fires not scorched floods not inundated\u00a0 \u00a0 will not
the radio grow silent for once\u00a0 \u00a0 no more commercials for cars unaffordable \u00a0 \u00a0 between those
same few songs they played\u00a0 \u00a0 like everything new had already stalled\u00a0 \u00a0 & become memory\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Garnet Juniper Nelson<\/strong> is a Queer\/trans writer birthed & corrupted in the American high desert who now practices their craft from the Pacific Northwest. A graduate of the MFA program at the University of Nevada, Reno, their work has been featured in publications such as Rattle<\/em>, Glassworks<\/em>, Salamander<\/em>, Waxwing<\/em>, Poet Lore<\/em>, Ninth Letter<\/em>, Salt Hill<\/em>, & Pidgeonholes<\/em>, and has received nominations for Best of the Net and Pushcart prizes. Their manuscript angel\/androgyne was most recently shortlisted for the 2023 Catamaran Literary Reader West Coast Poetry Prize. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Our town has grown beyond itself\u00a0 \u00a0 & now must accommodate\u00a0\u00a0a molasses tide overflowing the crumbling concrete corridors\u00a0construction constantly complicates\u00a0 \u00a0 our commute\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0we’ve had to learn tricks of the highway patrol\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 train ourselvesto spot their rigs\u2019 particular shade of cruel blue\u00a0 \u00a0 speeding w\/out shame\u00a0still perpetually late \u00a0 throw my hands … <\/p>\n

Continue reading ““Burnout” by Garnet Juniper Nelson”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2310,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3686","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2310"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3686\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}