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Jaclyn Burton

2-Step Verification

The computer won’t indulge me until I confirm who I am
with a separate, slower machine.

My iPhone 8 is wilting, but I wave it outside,
beg it to vouch for me

amongst the trees whose flowers fell
with Springtime snow; Santa Susana’s peaks

carpeted by the byproduct of buying products,
the ground polluted by a miracle.

I minimize my search for the best hyaluronic acid face serums
to project an agenda DeSantis would damn

to students who view vaping as a healthy alternative,
and 9/11 as overhyped

because everyday there is the certainty of loss,
grief simmering in the air like static they’ve never seen.

Jaclyn Burton lives in the suburbs of Los Angeles, where she teaches high school English and re-watches The Sopranos ad nauseum. Her poetry expresses an incessant search for meaning in a digital era saturated in socio-political dread. You can find her work on her Instagram, @jaclynfrances

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