Read an Excerpt
My Black Spell
I breastfed one hunger after another
fear me I know the weight of playthings
the trampoline in the crawlspace our family
lost an older sister I am fearless
subtle phoenix-older child
there was a time I could bite
and crack into pink jawbreaker
fuck my mouth up into red ants
and explain the blood in my gums away
I’ve got muscle and am articulate
forged from the hurt parts of the ground
domestic life was child’s play
breaking a bone at a time all fun and games
lives in my hands
I could do so much with miniatures
throw the piano in the kitchen attaboy
literally sexual stripped the boys
naked on the lawn I wanted to be
Michelangelo
with Barbie’s arched feet or a brat
that could bend at the knees there is spit
in my circumstance they call me
unstone they call me unmusic
baby baby baby baby baby voodooed alive
seashell from familial waters
healthy and unimaginably magical
I’m watching your back
best I can baby brother
follow fish follow things that run to us
home licking with gumbo
I do not have words for all the things I desire
In the summer my hair was braided
I am your brother best I can
Lipsticks
OVAH no. 5
Not That Innocent Pink
Violet Chachki
See You Next Tuesday
Amanda Lepore’s Revenge
Nude Descending a Staircase
They’re All Gonna Laugh at You
I Will Always Love Blue
This Is My Hair
Electric Twiggy
Grey Gardens
Nene Is Very Rich Green
Spell on You
A Claire Huxtable Hue
The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia
Mutha! Has Arrived
Lips Don’t Lie
Put a Little Yellow In My Bowl
Mrs. Bates
Priscilla: Green of the Desert
Bag Lady Blue
Metallic Cyndi Mayweather
Little Latin Boy in Drag
Touch All This Skin
Orange in the 212
Burnt Sunset Blvd
Iris Apfel Bloom
Naomi’s Pout
C’est Si Bon
Meow
Fleetwood Matte
Divine Intervention
Good Witch, Bad Witch
Onyx First Lady
Proud Mary
The Banana-52’s
Cleopatra
Rupacolypse Red
No Wire Hangers
Beat for the Gods
Barbarella Blue
Bette Davis Eyes
Opulence
Tangerine
Withdrawal in Drag
Dear pores, squeeze
every venom out of us.
The floorboards are unwell.
Leave no wounds.
Thinly shapeshifter,
come gaping crow
come broken city.
Practical scaffolding
temple taking beatings,
Scars, you are now
a giant woman.
Porous mary, you are longing.
Miss your drink. Lick
grenadine from your claws.
Penitent medusa, eat
a liver every day.
Chew our chances in half.
Change the form of your grit.
Safely trade your ice pick
for a Lisa Frank ice pick.
Become extraordinarily beautiful,
that is your ability. Old phoenix,
last call. Take up
as much room as you need.
Open yourself towards a thing
darker than a person.
Yellow head
soaking through the pillows,
you are made for dissection.
Steady my hand,
the one at your breast,
no blade or precious fire.
I don’t want to know you anymore.
Evening Prayer
who bestowed upon me
this habit of wanting
music from a pen this addiction
to the gentleness of vowels
what are these notes
from people’s heads
what is the point
of being the last one
to speak a beautiful language
I am a fraction
of what I could’ve been
what else can I contribute
I am outdone by children
with more to lose
a teenager instructing me
how it is to breathe
these kids are quick
they grab the hands
of their neighbors
pull each other
safely up for air
there is your enemy and son
your wife and brother
your prize and secret cross
golden fleece and weighted cast
heaven knows
I want this to be a poem
people reach for
how often have I told myself
I am not strong and time
keeps proving me wrong
when snow doesn’t come
when I am not enough
let me do the right thing
and make a rope of words
let it begin with me even now
there is richness beyond belief
vulnerable warrior what risk is there
we who already die in so many places
this not even the worst of them
no one line is revolutionary
no one word ever is
I am grateful for not dying yet
I inhale what is in front of me
everything is changing
young hearts any love
I can describe for you
does not suffice but you
are worth my every effort
one day you will know love like this
and write it better than me
Voices and Organs Playing Loudly
I got a recipe for geranium eyes
I got the hook-up for kerosene hands
hallelujah! out of your bodies
get a hallelujah! straight out
of your body get into some brave
stretch-marked skin around the armpit
make it tiger skin get into a long pubic hair
at the crevice of the groin, eel-slick and erect
I got a craving for a knight and a bath
the days add up to why-me-lord birds
the evenings is a big why-be gorilla
I’ve been thinking in black-bone hours, Lord
I’ve been thinking of you in a trunk chest, Lord
I have an open mouth full of kingless crowns
I remember one specific whipping
and I remember forgiving hard
my whole father and my whole mother
I’ve worn beautiful and ordinary white dresses
we wore them together, Lord
forgive me very much
I have a whistle like the devil’s
I am collecting the people’s ears
excuse me in the mean-time
make at least my shadow a good man
Lord, were you for me or someone else?
