Volume 3 Issue 1: Origins
Celesta in Waning
i know how to kill a mother
before she is a tide. ive done
it, swallowed all things wet
& fleshy. my mother, grieving
this quiet stagnance. grieving
this vein, this soaking wet. this
fishing hook catches a gill,
the glittering of a little exhale.
of a snapshot. lungless &
drowning. tasty till dry, a
silver buzz running across
these crescent moons. finding
this fag instead. forgive my
language, ma. forgive this
pulling of tides, this emptying
of rivers. you always said there
was a stillness behind the wave.
behind the waterfall. its wet, &
soft, & sudden, like a baby boys
first breath. you only see me
in salty bites & coral reefs.
the largest living thing on earth,
the wetness of it all. of your
son, almost human.
Scylla
after Zoe Dorado / after Jackson Neal
i visited the ocean floor yesterday back when my body
was all bone wrapped in thin blankets on the hospice
bed i ate so much sand i think i threw up about a million
times on your tongue good i guess the only good youve
had in months we shared our blood we let clams find
their way from filament lips to circuitry short circuiting
the tide better faster i know how to eat him away how
to trade fingertips for life this is the price of being a Queen
in a city of language the price of acrylics & loud mouths of
leather & clavicle of neon nights & green bruises we
carve gills into skin we carve clay we are clay we are
lines lines on our necks we will hang one day the indents
in our throats so fragile shivering in this too-thin sweater its
gorgeous how im blooming wrinkles one day in the ocean we are
all coated in sugar dark & sweet everyone is blue we 2 blue
men gnawing at each others rubber scales wondering if we are
damaged enough to fly yet are we brilliance yet glowing yet are
we splendid when we drown in orlando & colorado &
under the soggy moss this closing of craters this Queen
standing before you unburied & eroded toss me your leftovers
let me see my sisters let me eat the bodies the unnamed
the dusty let me elegize them are we creatures yet
resurfacing breathing killing us your gun is like a ship
sweaty & proud between teeth its a seastar color what a rusted
red like these cheeks look at me bask in this green in
this pretty look at this rouge this skin call me scylla we find
our homes in the spots between the rivers & our lips you kill us
& jump into the sea as if to join us as if to empty us you can
shoot us all away evaporate the ocean its fine with us
because you are the one dying from thirst
//
circuit Queen of blue
shoot at our neon craters
& youll see us breathe