after Wisława Szymborska

I prefer barefoot
I prefer paper maps
I prefer flowers in the ground
but first, I prefer coffee

I prefer lunch
I prefer savoury conversation
I prefer to sit at the children’s table
I prefer time off without good behaviour

I prefer going home from parties
I prefer reuse, repeats
I prefer to play in defence
I prefer half-varnished nails

I prefer words
I prefer Syzmborska’s lines about preferring
the absurdity of writing poems
to the absurdity of not writing poems

I prefer to idolise
I prefer noise in a museum
I prefer a waning moon
I prefer to be able to hear the sea

I prefer to dance with my eyes closed
I prefer double denim
I don’t prefer capitalism
I don’t have a preferred alternative that I can articulate

I prefer rainbows
I prefer cleaning the toilet to reality TV
I prefer sources, sauces and sauce
I prefer Connect Four to Cards Against Humanity

I prefer unfinished business
I prefer cut and paste
I prefer the absurdity of hope
to the absurdity of the mundane

I prefer being shown to getting told
I prefer, where there’s water, to get wet
I prefer to look history square in the face, kiss
her gently and say let’s go another round together