Lantern Review | Issue 8.2

Heather Nagami

Reduce the Damage

clicking through
what should

have been
this rose

my coping
isolated up

has broken
the game

picked them
walked away

you control
what should

reduce the
damage

your character
should have

clicking through
what should

you control
your character

combat games
I wasn't

into combat
games I'm

not into
first-person

my bedside
manner was

try not
to hit

hit the
trigger button

avoid looking
they say

at walls
fly up

I wouldn't
know tho

I'm not
into first

bumping into
floors bumping

fly up
the walls

first person
I avoid

those types
of games

instead I
would play

clicking through
what should

have been
this rose

would play
instead I

avoid those
I know

this coping
isolated up

the game
has broken

instead I
instead I

This poem uses found language from Jim Rossignol's This Gaming Life and a gaming Discord server.

Photo of Heather Nagami Heather Nagami is the author of Hostile (Chax). A Kundiman fellow, she is a teacher living in the Bay Area. Heather’s poems are forthcoming or have recently appeared in jubilat, Berkeley Poetry Review, and Discover Nikkei. • Photo by the author

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