Adrian Acu

“Shapes”

Kindergarten exposes us to radical politics
by teaching us our shapes
a revolution is satisfying to create
no matter how perfect or repeated
we build with blocks
even though their natural state
is to be put away
We hope to gather as tightly as triangles
but instead clump like jigsaw pieces
dumped out of the box
and just as a rectangle might be a square
take care when judging
if someone is with you or against you

but the lie is
that you had to learn shapes at all
as if you hadn’t encountered form before
as if shape could only be
simple, or sinuous, or sharp
how much more important it is to recognize
the contours of a dog, or parent, or change

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Adrian Acu (he/him) is a Filipino-American teacher and photographer. His work has appeared in Boulevard Magazine, bivouac magazine, and MQR Mixtape. His ever in-progress website is adrianacu.com, and his photography can be seen on Instagram at @adrian.acu.