Poetry

Ooga booga jigga bigga nigga ziggurati bati boom boom tutti fruittiDjibouti mama comma no drama Obama from a llama fonana fanaRosannadanna chapati do be doobie Debbie Rebbie covfefe lemmecrammalamadingdong ching chong Chobani Thulani Donnie honeyDamiani Romani in de windy Indy bindi— do the Lindy, Cindy. Damnyou fam, you slam a ham in a cham, you…

Too easy, perhaps, to romanticize your behavior by comparing itto natural phenomena. Yes, the bird may land on the branch out ofinstinct, without thinking (though who can know for sure). The humanbeing chooses to love based on a hodgepodge of past experiences—asense of humor, shared values, similar tastes, compatibility, evencombativeness. The criteria change often, the…

I think, if I could,I’d be anything elsein this world. Mimosa pudica, my leavesclosing when touched.I’d go back to 1729, take for shelter the awfulcrypt Master kept me inwith only enough water to last between his visits,during which he spokenot to me but about me, as though I lackeda mind, an appeal forfellowship or feeling….

after Claude McKay & what’s the world to carve into your tombstonethen? Here lies a man, twenty-seven years old. He diedbut he ain’t no punk. He was one knife slicing, shit-talkin’ wick. The most lit sonofabitch who’s ever lived.He slept with Smith & Wessons under silk pillowcases.Here lies a body creased with whitewall tires.Here lies…

with lines from D. A. Powell We unyoke owl pellets from marrowin desert meadow. His mouth pigeon eye, a torch, womb turned flower. He, still a boy,dug from cactus skull. Undress into bark beetles. He unlearns how to hold a fistwith my hand. Bursts into dandelion seeds. We are all beautiful at least once.Mud water…

I. It’s entirely up to me to remember                                   what you said. But all I recall is water,               flour,          strained yolk adding          up to something beaten and inedible. I placed               my ear to your stomach,          whereexcess warmth gathers in the name                                                                       of the body’s clandestineritual of diminishment. I’d crouch at your feetin the shower, allowing                           what pale lather ran               in runnels from your hair,…

I got a carouselof carved horses:pastel pinks, blues, greenssafely the most beautiful toyour garden apartment had ever seen And Grandma Shine gave my brothera flashlight that resembleda roll of Lifesavers And he was quiet a momentbefore he began to whisperabout the beauty of hisLifesavers flashlight, all brightred yellow green with possibility of lightand hope of…

my friend tells me she’s been runningin the cemetery in the afternoonshe calls it just-a-garden-reallyfirst i am afraid & then i am afraideverything is cemetery & gardenmy late uncle’s flower shopmy daughter learning to fold a paper into a boatsea salt marriage dawn old french musicthis vertical line digging deeperinto my forehead every morningthat bicycle…

It could be a decade later, years of livingan accustomed, an unvigilant life. I trustmy surroundings again, like a personinstead of a witness. I could be shoppingat the grocery, choosing one of the fanciercheeses, when I bump carts with my ex,my whiteness. Oh my god, this is where you’ve gotten to, my whiteness exclaims loudas…