INTERNAL LOCUST OF CONTROL

Never mosh with grasshoppers. Worst mistake of my life.
They’re like werewolves minus a cicadian rhythm —
instead, it’s social. A folk punk concert is their full moon.
No teeth needed for infection – only bristling their leg hair
against yours. Did you know there’s only so much
grasshopper per grasshopper a grasshopper can sustain
before it says “fuck this” and stops being a grasshopper altogether
and becomes patient 0 of a plague? Next thing you know
you’re high on serotonin, falling out of your dry skin with them
naked & neon on sudden wings
streaming with a sky blot of them
like caution tape against the wind.

©2025 Jamie Manias

Jamie Manias is a poetry MFA candidate and instructor at Bowling Green State University, where they serve as an assistant editor for Mid-American Review. Living on the autism spectrum as a trans person informs their approach to their poetry, which has appeared and is forthcoming in Rat’s Ass Review, Kingfisher, and Swamp Ape, among other publications. They can be found on Instagram at @jamiemanias.