2 poems by jesse s.
Notes on the flood
become blasphemous
connect the world to your navel
and self destruct
let god touch you
testimony
and become living crime scene
fingerprints branded into skin
and
pick brain apart
be restrained
become sodom
be
the first
enemy
black country
my sister is born in another dimension. i don’t know her face, but i wish i did. she peels my skin off and uses it as a sweater, but i cannot keep her warm. she drives across the country, looking for something. my skin says, “it’s not safe” but she ignores me because i have no right to tell her anything anymore. we get lost somewhere in mississippi which is alabama which is georgia. we have family here, but she doesn’t know it. i need to protect her but i can’t; i’m only skin. i’m only flesh. i can’t be honest and she’s not the one who ran away. i begin to dry and flake and realize that i’m losing her. she can take care of herself, i think. then i can’t think anything. i’m dying. i’m already dead. i join my mother’s body deep in the earth. neither dust nor flies bother me. i feel euphoric. she is just a step away, but i am only skin
May 4th, 2020jesse s. is a Black author and poet from the Midwest. He be found at the bottom of any shallow ditch, or at @gothqore on Twitter.